Scarred
by Left Eye of Jupiter
Summary: This story looks more at the potential dark sides of the RWBY universe as well as changing up the story quite a bit later on. The main OC characters are Judy, an introverted weapon inventor and axolotl faunus, Artemis, an out of city hunter, Vak, a young, family oriented adventurer, and Damien, as he calls himself. Criticism and feedback is welcome and encouraged.
1. Introduction Chapters

Me and a friend read over my introduction chapters recently and realised that they could use some work, nothing too serious but work nonetheless. I've made edits he's told me about, spelling mistakes and the like, and I've also made a few small edits to things I wasn't really satisfied with, nothing big however so if you've read through these already there isn't any need to read through them again. This will be happening over the coming weeks for the rest of volume one.

* * *

The Demon

"Wh- what do you want?!" The grounded man yells, holding his bleeding leg in fear.

"This isn't about me, really." The boy replies, bloodied knife in hand. "You refused our offer one too many times I would guess." The boy wore all black with his hood almost covering his face.

"You... you can't do this." The man replies, dejectedly. "We can talk about-"

"It's pretty obvious what you're doing." The boy replies, putting his knife in its holster. "You're stalling for time."

"How do you-?"

"Well, you made it pretty clear. Could you tell them to hurry? I'm getting bored." As he says this a gunshot is heard a few meters away and a bullet hits the ground at his feet: a warning shot. The boy turns and sees a dozen armed men with clothes similar to the man on the ground.

"Put your hands in the air!" One man yells. He has a bayonet tipped sniper rifle and is clearly the one who shot.

"Well, looks like you got me." The boy says, taking off his hood to reveal his face. He has black hair, despite looking fairly young, with a green stripe running down the left side, matching his piercing green eyes. "I was hoping you would come. I heard they call you Bell, is this correct?"

"That is me." The man says. "Do you have business with me? You could have just asked for me."

"Well, that wouldn't really get the message across, would it?" The boy says. Looking over the man, he's well built, tall and muscular, holding the sniper rifle in one hand. "I guess I should introduce myself, they call me Damien." He continues. "My boss has made a few offers in the past to merge our groups, yours being the biggest and ours being the most resourceful, we could take the city for ourselves if we wanted to. You have turned down our previous offers and I'm here to ask again."

"Did the warning shot not indicate that I'm not playing games, kid?" Bell responds. "I knew who you were. Go back and tell your boss-"

"Now, that would be fine. However..." Damien begins before pulling out his knife. "I was hoping for this. I heard you were strong, any chance we could fight for this?"

Bell looked at his men and sighs. "Open fire." Before the three men armed with guns begin shooting. Damien is surrounded by a cloud of smoke and the men stop. "Let's go, we still have work to do tonight." Suddenly, one of the men begins to fire at the ground in front of him, clouding the area around them. "What are you-!"

"Help!" Says one of the gunners before he is cut off and replaced by a gurgling noise. The smoke clears and the three gunners and lying on the ground in a puddle of blood with Damien standing over them, knife in hand. The floor is torn apart by bullets but Damien has no marks on him.

"What the hell is going on?!" Bell yells. Damien ignores him, as do Bell's men, who charge at Damien in a rage. The first man that gets to him swings his axe but Damien dodges it and it is planted into the concrete floor. He walks on towards the charging crowd as Bell takes aim. Two more men charge at him and swing together, one aiming for his legs and one for his head. He quickly charges the man aiming for his head and slips behind him, kicking him forward into the other man's weapon, breaking his leg and causing him to collapse onto the other swinger. Another shot is fired. As soon as he hears it, Damien dodges to the left, barging into another fighter and flipping over him, stabbing him in the arm. The bullet flies past and hits the man still trying to get his axe from the ground in the leg. Damien walks on towards Bell with a smile on his face. "What are you?!" Bell yells, rapidly pulling the trigger. Three bullets fly out before it clicks a few more times with no result. One bullet goes into the back of the man in front of him, causing him to fall into the man in front of him. Damien stands before them and holds out his knife for the man to fall on. A man to the left of him charges, swinging his sword down on him.

Damien raises his left arm over his head, blocking the sword. The sword cuts part way into his arm before sliding towards his hand, like it was going down a ramp, and ripping off Damien's lower arm, which flops to the ground, revealing a spike attached half way up his lower arm. The man's sword continues, chopping into the falling man while Damien stabs the man to his left with his spick-arm. The three men collapse, leaving only Bell.

"Was this the best you have?" Damien asks, still walking. "I hope you can put up a fight at least." Bell pulls out another weapon from his belt, a shotgun, and begins firing both guns rapidly towards Damien, who dodges them effortlessly. "You seem to know a bit about me, but I wonder." He continues, knowing Bell can't hear him. "Do you know what my semblance is?" Bell continues firing until he hears a few more rapid clicks and reaches for his ammo belt. Damien reaches him and places his face inches from Bell's. "I call it, The Demon's Influence."

Bell pauses for a second before swinging his rifle at Damien, hitting him in the face with the butt. His bayonet suddenly folds out, cutting Damien's cheek. Bell swings again, revealing that his rifle could fold out into a great-sword.

"Nice!" Damien exclaims. "Now I can take this seriously. An ex-hunter I'm guessing?"

"Stop talking!" Bell yells, swinging with two great swords now, as his shotgun transforms too. Damien suddenly disappears from his sight, ducking under his legs and slicing at them with his knife, before jumping on his back, stabbing at him multiple times. Both realize that their auras had depleted completely throughout the fight and Damien jumps back from him. Bell instantly grabs his ammo and starts to reload but Damien raises his left arm and aims the spike towards him, grabbing a section of it with his right. Bell suddenly hears a noise like metal on metal and looks up to see the spike flying towards him. Due to its size and speed, it is easy to block, however he does not see the knife coming from behind it, which stabs him in the head after he knocks the spike away. Bell collapses to the ground, dead.

Damien walks slowly towards Bell to retrieve his knife, kicking him over onto his back and ripping it out. He pulls out his walkie-talkie. "I'm done here, where to next?" He says. "What do you mean? I'm pretty sure they're all dead." He replies before hearing a cough from the man he had left with a wounded leg. "I'll get back to you." He puts away the communicator and walks back to the man. "Take me to the rest of your crew." He continues with a smile. "You work for Torchwick now."

* * *

The Warrior

A young man walks into the empty room, the room his family had been trying to find for decades. He was not surprised that the legends would be true, after all, he had seen many strange things in his search, and this was just a room.

"I knew you would come." Came a voice from the walls.

"Then why didn't you stop me?" He replies. "You know what I'm here for, right? I would expect you to."

"Yes, I do, but I am not willing to give it over."

"Then how about we fight for it." He says, getting into a fighting stance.

"You are fast to resort to drastic measures."

"You should have known that too."

The voice sighs. "I cannot fight you, I am merely a thought, but I can issue a challenge if you so wish."

"Then do it."

"Alright then, but don't blame me when you fail." Once the voice finishes, the room shifts and changes, slowly becoming a different place entirely.

"Vak!" Yelled his brother, running towards him with something in his hands. "Look what I made!" He held his hands up to reveal a tiny wooden dog statue.

"That's great and all but-" Vak says.

"Ville, what have I told you." Vak's older brother says, ruffling Ville's hair. "Don't use your semblance unless you need to."

"Ve! You ruined it!" Ville says, turning away.

"Look, just-" Vak begins.

"Okay, fine." Ve says, taking Ville's creation in his hands. He squeezes it tight before releasing it slowly to reveal the wooden dog moving and running around in his hands.

"Hey, that's unfair!" Ville says, even more annoyed than before. Ve is dumbfounded by this and moves on.

"Speaking of, it's good to see you. Have you discovered your semblance yet?" Ve asks.

"That's enough." Vak says. "I'm not an idiot. Did you really think I would fall for such a simple trick?"

"No, of course not." The voice confirms. "But that wasn't the point." His brothers both turn to him, standing in a fighting stance like his. "What will you do now?"

"Fight, of course."

"It takes nothing to say, but what will you do?" Suddenly everything felt a lot more real. The two figures in front of him felt like physical beings and not simple illusions. Ville jumps back away from him and brings his hand to the wall, ripping off a part of it to create a weapon. Ve stands still, waiting for Vak to make the first attack. Vak quickly rushed Ve, waiting for him to make his move before dodging past him and running for Ville instead. Ve throws his hands to the floor, setting it in motion towards him. Vak runs as fast as he can but he's still slowly moving back towards Ve, just like the last time they fought. Vak changes course, spinning around and running with the floor and gain speed before jumping at Ve. He knees Ve in the nose, causing it to bleed. "You understand that did almost nothing, yes?"

"Yes, I know. I was testing if they had an aura."

"Clever, but that still counts as a missed strike." The voice mocks. Vak pulls out his spear, readying it for close combat by holding the point closer to him. Ve also readies his spear but for distance, at the same time making the floor move again to gain distance from Vak, who ignores it and rushes him before he gets a chance to change it again. Vak tries to get in a quick hit but Ve blocks it with his spear. Vak ignores this and pushes until the spear is cut in half. Vak remembers that Ve had a snake head on the other end of his spear and quickly jumps back to avoid it as it snaps at him after being brought to life. Ve now held the top half of a snake in one hand and half a spear in the other. Vak assumes this is time for distance but is quickly put off that when he is hit in the arm by a sword wielded by his younger brother. Vak knows he is inexperienced in reality but doesn't know how he is in this illusion. Both brothers rush at him and he jumps up, planting his spear in the ceiling. The brothers jump up after him but falls into his trap. The bottom of his spear opens up and begins to fire, shooting rapidly in a circle, hitting both of the illusions. They are torn apart, revealing circuitry and dust. They both fall to the ground but are clearly still moving.

"What is this?" Vak says, still hanging from the ceiling. "These two were much easier to beat than my brothers.

"Well of course, I could not replicate them perfectly."

"Do I win then?"

"Not yet, functional."

"Alright then." He says, walking over to the copy of Ville. "I'll be home soon, brother." He finishes before stomping on the robot's head and moving on to Ve. "I'm sorry, you will have to wait a while longer to see Ville again." He says, slamming a foot down on his head. "So, where is my reward?"

"They aren't all defeated yet."

"What do you-" He begins before being cut off by his own scream as the snake bites into his eye. He grabs the snake, crushing it with his hand. He feels something rushing into his eye.

"What will you do now?" Says the voice, mockingly.

"I will fight." He says, holding his spear close to the spike and thrusting it behind his eye to cut it out.

* * *

The Hunter

A young girl runs through the forest, charging towards a scream for help. As soon as she arrives at the clearing that they named home, she discovers a creature resembling an ursa attacking her brother.

"Apollo!" She yells out to him, pulling out her bow in preparation. She aims for the ursa's leg and fires, merely getting its attention. The ursa turns to her, ready to pounce, and Apollo quickly climbs up a tree behind him, readying his bow as well. The ursa swings its claws at the girl, digging up a large area of the floor as she dodges out of the way while swinging her bow to hit its head. An arrow hits it in the back and it turns to see Apollo with his sights trained on it. He fires again but the ursa puts up its claws in defense, blocking the arrow.

"We need to get its guard down!" Apollo yells.

"I noticed!" The girl replies. "Give me a second!" She yells before untying one end of her bowstring, holding the bow at that end, creating a whip. She swings the bow at the ursa's arm, whipping it half off, before doing it again, this time wrapping the string around its arm and pulling as hard as she could, ripping it off. Apollo takes the shot and hits it square in the eye. The ursa is tougher than most and falls back, roaring. Suddenly, two smaller ursa leap out of the forest, swiping at the girl and catching her by surprise. She gets sent flying back into a tree across the clearing.

"Artemis!" Apollo yells, grabbing two arrows from his quiver and pulling the string back. He fires at both ursa but the shots don't connect. He quickly analyses the situation, trying to find the injured ursa before it can get away. He hears a sound behind him and jumps down from the tree just in time to dodge the ursa's claws. He runs over to Artemis, who just finished getting up again. "How is your aura?" He asks.

"Pretty bad." She replies. "But I should be fine."

"Okay then. Put your earplugs in." He says, pulling out his harp. Artemis quickly puts in her earplugs before the song starts. The dust in the harp reacts and the soundwave is visible. The beasts begin to slow down until they stop. Apollo nods to Artemis and she prepares two arrows, aiming them for the two uninjured ursa. Both shots hit their targets and the music stops. Apollo raises an arrow to the sun, reflecting the light off it onto the arrows now buried in the ursa. He grabs a dust gem of fire and fire runs down the beams of light, setting the grim on fire from the inside. They burn quickly and soon the clearing is empty.

"What were you thinking!" Artemis shouts. "You would have died if I wasn't here!"

"That's why you were here." Apollo says. "You came to save me, like I knew you would."

"Did you know it had backup?"

"Of course not, if I did then I would have planned it differently."

"What was your plan?! Bring it here and wait for me to save you?!"

"Pretty much. You are better than me at this type of thing anyway." He says, looking up to the sun. "This was easy for one of father's tests though."

"Maybe we've just gotten better." Artemis says. "We need to get home before it gets dark, it's a full moon tonight." She finishes, walking towards their cottage in the woods while looking down at her right leg that was injured in the fight but refusing to let the pain show.

* * *

The Investment

"Hey! Gills!" A boy yells. The girl he is referring to turns to him.

"If you call me that again, I'm going to hit you." She replies calmly. "What, you want a rematch... Luci, was it?"

"I told you not to call me that." Luci says.

"What do you want?" She says more firmly.

"I want a rematch." He replies. "You're leaving this year and I haven't had a chance to fight against you on fair grounds."

"You're saying I cheated?"

"Yes, and I respect that, so I'm going to take this seriously." He says, drawing his knife.

"Look, this is a big day for me. If you want to fight me then come to Becon next year and-"

"I'm not waiting that long. You beat me at the start of the year so I need to prove to myself that I can do this." He replies, determination in his eyes. She sees this and sighs with frustration.

"Fine, but this one has to be official. Give me a-"

"No need." Luci interrupts, pointing to one of the teachers in the crowd, who waves him off.

"Alright kids, calm down." He says.

"Mister Qrow! What are you doing?"

"Look, I'm all for a fight but Luci said that you would want a moderator, or something like that, and I owe him a few favors." Qrow says, taking out a whistle Luci had 'borrowed' from one of the other teachers.

The girl sighs, taking out her custom revolvers. "So, what rules are we using?"

"Rules? No, I'm just here to make it official, you do whatever you want."

The girl sighs again. "This was supposed to be a normal graduation, you know?"

"Whatever. Okay, let's get this started." Qrow announces. "Luci Glas verses... I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"I've been in your class for two years." The girl replies before shaking it off. "Judy Apelsin."

"Okay, go then, I have stuff to do." Qrow finishes unceremoniously with a drink.

"Are you even-" Judy begins before being cut off by a knife hitting her in the arm. Luci rushes forward, stabbing seemingly wildly, although he has a calm expression on his face. Judy jumps away, aiming both pistols at him and firing. One jams but she was expecting that as it happened the last time they fought and nearly cost her the fight. It's only then that Luci notices that her guns aren't aimed at the same place but her right gun at his leg and the left at his knife, making it hard for him to guess her next move. The right gun jams and Judy fires at his knife. The knife spins a few times in the air but Luci catches it anyway, catching it by the blade while aiming the gun in it's handle at Judy, who opens up the shield on her guns to block the bullets. She finds it surprising how predictably he is being, if she remembered right then this is almost exactly how their first fight went. The sound of his footsteps is drowned out by his shouting.

"Come on! I wanted you to go all out from the start! You can't surprise me with your tricks this time!" He says, clearly as a distraction. Suddenly, Judy hears a loud sound of metal scraping against metal and sees the pointed end of the knife poking between her shields with no-one holding it. She looks around quickly but doesn't see him.

"Damnit." She whispers. "Look around but don't draw attention to yourself." Her backpack opens slightly to reveal a 360 degrees camera.

"Behind you!" Yells a voice from the backpack. Judy turns to see Luci jumping down from a tree, aiming his feet towards her head. She raises her guns to him but he just lands on the shields and jumps off before she has a chance to fire, landing behind her and swinging his knife for a final strike. Again, a sound of metal on metal rings out. The crowd they had drawn in looks on in surprise as two mechanical tendrils extruding from Judy's bag block Luci's knife.

"Finally taking this seriously." Luci smiles. "Now I can as well." As soon as he says this, Judy can feel his aura increase in strength, forcing her to realize that he didn't actually have it up before, and his face turned into a terrifying grin. He rushes forward, swinging wildly all the way. Judy pulls up her guns ready to aim and begins walking forward.

"What are you doing?" Comes the voice from her backpack. "Keep your distance, we have the advantage." Judy stopped walking and Luci stopped dead in his tracks.

"You can resist The Demon's Influence? Strange." Luci ponders, keeping the grin on his face. He shrugs it off and begins rushing forward again. Judy starts to question why she walked forward. She already knew Luci had some type of luck-based semblance but it didn't seem like that was part of it, did he have two somehow? Suddenly, a knife is in her face but two metal arms block it, one of them breaking in the process.

"Thanks, N9, I got distracted." Judy says.

"I knew you were cheating, this is two on one." Luci says, bringing his face closer to the flying sparks. "But it doesn't matter, because I'm gunna win." Judy raises her working pistol to his face and pulls the trigger, not realizing that this would break the other arm blocking his attack and his knife goes through and deals the final blow to her aura. They both stand there in silence, Luci with his aura still almost completely intact. "I guess it does work on you after all, but how did you break it before?" Usually the match would end here but Judy raises her guns again, forcing the match to continue. "Wow, that's brave of you." Luci says, dodging a hail of bullets.

"Stop talking!" Judy yells. Only now realizing that both her guns are firing now but not having time to be distracted. One of the bullets hits Luci in the arm but only hits his aura, meaning he could run without concern until he noticed that his aura was also done. Both metal arms go back into the backpack and Judy puts away her guns. "There, this is a tie." Judy says, beginning to walk away. Luci appears behind her almost instantly, ready to attack. Luci hears a sound from her backpack and, assuming the worst, aims his left hand at a nearby wall and presses a button, launching a metal spike through his fake hand, tearing it apart, and stabbing into the wall, pulling him towards it and out of the way before a spinning saw blade shoots out of Judy's backpack.

"You could have killed me!" Luci yells.

"You attacked me first, idiot!" Judy yells back, pulling out her weapons again, backing away from him. A loud bang happens suddenly behind her and when she turns to see what it is, it appears to be the spike he had launched at the wall. Getting a better look at it, it seemed to have four blades in a circle that all came together in the middle as a point, presumably so that he could slice with it as well as stabbing. Too slowly she realizes that there is a chain attached to it as well, probably leading back to Luci, who runs around her, using the chain to trip her before jumping at her and striking down with her knife. She swings her gun up and uses it to smack the knife out of his hand, aiming the gun at his leg and pulling the trigger. He dodges out of the way before preparing his own attack, aiming the stump of his left arm at her left leg, pressing another button on it, firing a shotgun blast out of a hole in the flat, metallic stump, tearing her leg apart.

Judy screams in pain as Qrow rushes over and grabs Luci as he prepares another strike. "What are you doing?" Qrow says. "The fight's over." As he says this, the smile leaves Luci's face and becomes a look of worry.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Luci begins, realizing that her leg was only just hanging on. The crowd looks at him in shock before a few rush over and grab him with Qrow, holding him back, although Qrow is doing it for a different reason.

"Just calm down, kid. Everything will be alright." He says, taking out his scroll and calling for transport. "Her gills are part of her faunus abilities but another is the ability to regenerate lost limbs, being an axolotl." Qrow says, taking another swig of his drink.

Judy seems to have fallen asleep as they lift her up and take her away.


	2. Chapter 1: Beacon

Chapter 1: Beacon

"Hey! Wake up!" Luci yells. "How can you sleep at a time like this?"

"I'm-" Judy begins before falling back asleep.

"Damnit, wake up!" Luci continues, drawing more attention. "You can see the whole academy from here!"

"Stop yelling!" Someone on demanded from the crowd. Luci ignored them and continued yelling until they landed.

"Seriously, we're here! Wake up!" Luci continues.

"What are you two doing?" Asks a guard. "We're about to take off, hurry and get off." Luci thought about arguing back but decided against it, picking Judy up and carrying her onto the landing area of Beacon.

"I'm going to drop you." Luci says. He sees some girls shouting about something in front of them and decides to avoid it and walk straight onto the grass before lying Judy on it. "You better get up soon or we're going to miss the entrance ceremony." Suddenly, an explosion happens a few meters away from them, where the girls were standing, and Luci draws his knife. The smoke clears and the girls continue to yell, although it's mostly the one yelling at the other.

Judy sits up suddenly but is pulled back down by her backpack. She stares up at Luci and extends her hand. "Can you help me up?" She asks. Luci sighs and takes her hand before lifting her to her feet.

"You're supposed to be the mature one, you know." He mocks, turning back to the girls but only seeing the one there now. "Have you seen her weapon?" Luci asks.

"No, why? It special?" Judy says with a yawn.

"You're still tired?" He replies.

"There were a lot of people, I'm exhausted." Judy says yawning again.

"You didn't even speak to- whatever, look at her weapon." He says, pointing to where the girl was, although she had already left. Luci sighs. "It looked like a similar design to Qrow's."

"Oh, okay." Judy says uncaringly. "I've already seen Qrow's so why would I want to see a similar one?"

"I'm not talking about your obsession! She might know him!"

"And...?"

"She might be good at fighting." Luci says, sparkle in his eyes.

"So, it's not about my obsession, it's about yours?" Judy retorts.

"I'm not obsessed with Qrow!"

"Well, you asked him for his autograph when you were accepted into Signal."

"So?"

"Then when you entered."

"But-"

"Then before your first summer break, then winter break, then end of the year, then-"

"Okay, I get it." Luci says. "That looks bad, but have you seen him fight? It's amazing!" Luci fanboys.

"Yeah, sure, but his weapon is boring."

"No, I mean, have you seen him **really** fight?"

"What are you two doing?" Asks someone from behind them. A boy and girl walk towards them but it is clear that it was the girl who asked. The boy has pure white hair that runs down to his back, much like Judy's, whereas the girl has darker hair, closer to silver, that is almost as short as Luci's, only barely above her eyes while she wears it down. Judy and Luci both decided to wear their Signal uniforms to make a good impression but these two looked like they were decked out for a battle. "Aren't you going to miss the entrance ceremony?" The girl says while the boy reads a book about Beacon.

"Aren't you?" Luci replies. The girl looks like she's thinking for a second and the next she's gone, leaving the boy behind. He puts down his book and sighs.

"Sorry about her, she didn't think things through and got us lost. We were on our way to there now, if you want to join us, or me now I guess." The boy offers.

"Yeah, actually, that would be nice." Luci agrees for the two of them, forcing Judy to walk with them. "I'm Damien and this is Judy, nice to meet you." The boy looks him in the eyes, evaluating him.

"Apollo, and my sister's Artemis." He replies. "Are you sure you want to go with that name though?"

"What do you mean?" Luci asks, preparing for the worst.

"There's a book I've been reading recently called The Midnight Demon. There was once an assassin who would destroy groups of people at a time using the power of manipulation, either getting them to kill each other or toying with them before they died. He would take on target after target until one day he disappeared, leaving no trace behind, but before he did he fought against a great hunter who learned his name, Damien." Apollo pauses, waiting for Luci to react, but he doesn't budge. "But that's just a fairytale and even if it were true then that person must have changed their mind if they stopped killing." He smiles knowingly. "I'm just saying, that name has a bad reputation, and a lot of people here will know the story by now, you might want to consider giving a fake name instead, or a real one." He says, leaving Luci and Judy a few feet behind him. "Sorry, I just remembered that I have to give Artemis something, I'll see you later." He says, running off towards the entrance.

"Well..." Judy says, breaking a moment of silence. "That's not good for you."


	3. Chapter 2: Entrance

Chapter 2: Entrance

"Is this it?" Judy says, walking into the ballroom.

"We're already late and there's no-one here, I think this is the wrong place." Luci replies. Walking in he notices some areas set up around the room, like everything had been stacked up to make room. "Well, nothing we can do about it now." Luci says, sitting down on the floor. "They probably have cameras all over this place so someone should come and take us where we're supposed to be going."

"But I want to know where our rooms are." Judy says.

"Well, do you want to walk around for ages trying to find it or wait for someone to take us straight there?"

"If someone comes to get us." Judy says. They wait for a few minutes and a few students come bustling through the door.

"How did you get here before us?" The one in front asks. He is wearing the Alsius Academy uniform with some unique modifications; the sleeves are cut short, a few extra pockets have been carved into it and he even has a matching eyepatch over his left eye, his dark blue hair probably stood out the most however.

"What do you mean?" Luci asks. "we got lost and ended up here."

"Wow, really? You must have some luck. This is our bedroom for the night." He says. Upon hearing this, Judy essentially collapses onto her backpack after throwing it on the floor, falling asleep instantly.

"Great." Luci sighs. "Did we miss anything important at the entrance ceremony?"

"Nah, not too much, just some inspirational speech." The boy exaggerates a surprised expression. "Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet." He clears his throat. "My name's Vak Skye, nice to meet you."

"Damien Glas, Judy Apelsin. Where are we sleeping? Was everyone given areas to sleep in or what?"

"Nope, first come first served." Vak says. "Although you cheated, I'll let you have first pick."

"Thanks." Luci says, picking up Judy under one arm and her bag in the other. "We'll take the corner over there."

"Cool, we'll probably set up somewhere in the middle. Come and talk to us if you get bored."

"Sure." Luci says, walking over to the corner of the room and throwing the bag and Judy down on the floor. "She needs to make you lighter."

"Sorry, she said she would have to take out some important stuff to make me lighter." Nixi replies, poking its camera out of the backpack.

"I don't mind too much but she has to pay for it more than me." Luci says, seeing more people walking in. "Keep your voice down from now on."

"On it, volume down." Nixi whispers.

"Okay, I'm gunna go look around a bit, can you protect Judy for me?"

"Okay, sensors on."

"Right, be right back." Luci says, standing up and turning around, bumping into someone straight away.

"Hey, watch it." The girl says, turning to see him properly. "Oh, it's you!" Artemis exclaims. "You didn't come to the entrance ceremony!"

"Artemis, right? How do you know that?"

"I was watching the door, don't think you can outsmart me."

"But doesn't that mean you weren't paying attention to the ceremony?"

"Well... damnit." Artemis growls. "You're just messing with me, aren't you?"

"If it was this easy to mess with you, doesn't that say more about you?" Luci says, egging her on. Apollo comes and places his stuff down next to where Judy is sleeping, sitting on the floor while he reads. "Oh, you're here too."

"Yup." He replies disinterestedly.

"Don't change the subject!" Artemis yells.

"What subject?" Luci retorts.

"Well... umm..." She thinks. "Say sorry for bumping into me."

"Apologies, m'lady." Luci says with a sarcastic bow. "That good enough for you?"

Artemis growls out a response but Luci doesn't hear it before she swings her leg around for a high kick to his head. Luci lift his head up quickly, stumbling backwards but avoiding the assault. Artemis, on the other hand, swings too hard and ends up kicking the wall to her left. "Crap!" She yells, almost falling backwards before Vak walks by, catching her half way down and pulling her back up.

"What's going on over here." He asks, everyone else turning to see the commotion.

"Nothing." Luci says dryly. "Just having some fun."

"Screw you." Artemis says. "Bro, I need some bandages."

"You probably sprained it, it won't heal overnight." Apollo says, not looking up.

"Then... what does moon look like?" She asks. Apollo looks up, looking under the massive curtain to see out of the window.

"Almost full."

"I'm taking a walk." Artemis says, walking towards the exit.

"You can't go, we're supposed to be asleep."

"Well then move over at least!" Artemis says, limping back and pushing Apollo from under the window and sitting in his place.

Luci stays silent for a moment and Vak speaks up. "So... what was that about?" He asks Apollo.

"Nothing important." He replies, still reading. "The moon is beautiful at this time in its cycle. It's a shame to waste the view when you will soon be able to see its flaws again."

Judy sits up suddenly, head-butting Artemis who is sitting in front of her. She begins shouting and drawing attention again while Judy tries to figure out what happened in her half-asleep state.

"This seems like it's going to be fun." Vak says. "You have some good friends."

"What happened to the guys with you?" Luci asks, remembering him coming in with a few people behind him.

"Oh, we only just met today. They left once they found out that I'm not part of the family business anymore." Vak explains quickly.

"Family business?"

"Yeah, you haven't heard of it, I'm guessing? Not many people here have." Vak begins. "Aesir Corporation. We used to provide weapons and munitions to Atlas in The War, but now we make air transport and security robots."

"I thought Atlas made those." Luci says.

"No, Atlas uses them, my family makes them." Vak explains quickly. "They aren't that famous over here but back in Atlas they were pretty much a household name."

"So those guys were-"

"Not you again!" They hear two people shout from across the room. They look over and see some girls yelling at each other.

"I didn't know she was here." Vak says.

"Who?" Luci asks.

"Weiss Schnee, the white-haired girl." Vak says.

"As in Schnee Dust Company?"

"Of course. We used to know each other." Vak continues before cutting himself off. "I'm sorry, I've just been taking about myself here. Do you know anyone here, asides from your girlfriend there I mean." Vak jokes.

"Yeah, her." He says, pointing to the blonde girl.

"Oh really? You don't look like the type of guy to know a lot of girls to be honest."

"We were in the same class at Signal, although we never really talked. All I know about her is that she's related to our old teacher." Luci says, holding down a smile. "I think her name was Yang something-something, I don't remember."

"Aren't you a people person." He mocks. Luci ignores him and goes to sit down next to Judy. Vak follows him over, placing his bag down on the ground. "So... are you guys going to get dressed at any point?" He asks, noticing that Artemis, Luci and Judy are still in their normal clothes, while he and Apollo are in pajamas.

"Where are we supposed to change?" Luci asks.

"The bathroom?" Vak says, pointing to the way they came in. "I can understand you two but why didn't you get changed on the way here, miss...?" He says, looking at Artemis.

"No miss, just Artemis."

"So Artie then?" Vak jokes.

"No, I just said Artemis." She misunderstands. "And what were you talking about?"

"Getting changed?"

"Why? I can just wear this." She says.

"Oh... of course." Vak says, dumbfounded.

"Judy." Luci says, pushing her shoulder. "Wake up." She ignores him and continues to mumble in her sleep. "I guess we're wearing this to sleep then." He says, defeatedly.

"Why don't you go change?"

"Because she's sleeping on all my stuff." Luci says, pointing to her backpack.

"Scandalous." Vak says, everyone ignores him and continues talking until eventually Luci and Apollo are the only ones left awake.

Apollo finally puts down his book and turns to Luci. "Were you staying up for me or is it just a coincidence?"

Luci looks him in the eyes, clearly not taking this lightly. "Have you told anyone?"

"Told anyone what?" He plays dumb.

"About my past." Luci says. "You obviously know, so what do you want to keep quiet?"

Apollo chuckles, lying down next to his sister. "I'm a story teller, all I need is a story to tell, as long as you don't ruin my year then I won't ruin yours." He says, turning to look back at him. "Anything else?" Luci shakes his head, allowing Apollo to turn the other way and go to sleep. Luci isn't the only one awake in the ballroom but the people who are still awake are few and far between so he takes his chances.

"Nixi." Luci says to the backpack.

"You want a report?" Nixi responds.

"Yes, how much did you see tonight?"

"Not much, I haven't been able to move too much, let alone look around."

"I guess We'll have to wait for tomorrow to find them." Luci responds, keeping it brief in case someone overhears him. "What about everyone around here, any threats?"

"Inconclusive. The twins seem to have basic wooden bows but I don't know if that is a ploy. Vak did not have a weapon on him but neither did anyone else in the room, I'm assuming there is a storage site somewhere. We could find it and analyze their weapons now."

"Thanks Nixi but that's enough for now, go into sleep mode."

"Alright, good night." Nixi says, shutting down instantly.

"Well, tomorrow may be better at least." Luci says. "Another day to survive."


	4. Chapter 3: Formation: Sunrise

Chapter 3: Formation: Sunrise

"Why did it turn out like this?" Luci says, running through the emerald forest. He thinks back to the start of the day, how they were led to the edge of the cliff and then launched into the forest without any kind of detailed explanation. "First person you make eye contact with, huh? Gotta find her fast then." He says to himself, running through the forest, heading north. "Hopefully I'll run into her along the way." He hears someone yelling but it doesn't sound like Judy so he leaves it and continues his run until he hears a sound much closer behind him. Turning around he sees nothing but when he turns back he is hit in the face by a tree branch and falls backwards, luckily because moments later a huge fist swipes from behind the tree. A large ape looking grimm emerges and starts swinging at Luci, seemingly aiming for his legs. "Damnit, why now." Luci mumbles, pulling out his knife. The beast swings at him but he jumps up onto its arm, stabbing into it for grip as he kicks it in the face before it grabs him with the other hand and throws him into a nearby tree, smashing him through it. His aura depletes quickly but he stays persistent, lunging for his knife, which is still planted in the beast's arm, but getting punched hard in the leg, pinning him to the ground. This grimm seems a lot smarter to Luci, although he doesn't fight them often the ones he has fought have been thoughtless and attack wildly and randomly. "Are you sentient?" He asks. The beast does not respond but instead swings his other fist towards Luci's head, like he's trying to keep him quiet. Luci decides that he should have taken this seriously from the start and raises his left arm to block the attack. As soon as the fist and his arm make contact Luci takes his chance, swinging his left arm outwards and cutting up the side of the beast's arm to divert its attack. He pulls off the rest of his false are, since it is already cut all along the side, revealing the rest of his weapon. On seeing this, the beast jumps back, gaining some distance for a charging attack, and Luci does the same. As soon as the beast begins running, Luci presses the button above the spike to shoot it out, aiming it for the beast's body. As the spike hits, Luci presses another button and jumps, pulling himself towards the beast, grabbing his knife again and slashing across the beast's face before swinging behind it and stabbing it in the back. The beast throws himself against a tree, smashing Luci into it, before letting him drop to the ground and running away, holding its head in its usable hand. Luci raises his left arm again, aiming for the beast, but it slides away behind some trees before he gets the chance. "Damnit!" Luci yells. "These things are getting smarter. I hope Judy is doing better than me at least."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Judy asks, still in the air after being launched.

"You told me to keep us up so that you can see the area better." Nixi says.

"But I can't see anything, there are too many trees."

"You were the one that told me to do it, don't blame me." Nixi suddenly shut off the jet and after a few seconds they begin to drop. "We are currently at twenty-five percent charge and fifty percent fuel. How should we land?"

"We could always land on a tree."

"We're going too fast. You need to-" Nixi begins before Judy, legs hit the top of one of the tall trees, sending her into a spin. Nixi quickly shoots out her pointed arms and stabs them into a nearby tree to gain balance. "Be more careful."

"I see some people fighting over there." Judy says, pointing north. Nixi extends her camera out of the bag and over Judy's head, looking a few meters away to see two girls arguing about something in the middle of a fight with some beowolves. "Also, the forest is burning." Judy points out. Nixi releases her grip on the tree and Judy kicks off of it, landing on the branch of the tree behind them, and jumping down to the ground below to get some more speed.

"Why are we running towards the fire?" Nixi asks.

"Because we need to go north. Luci is probably heading there now." Judy replies, covering her face and running into the smoke. She hears a loud sound to her right, like thudding on the ground, and sees a huge grimm, that Nixi recognizes as a beringel, barreling alongside the fire. Nixi notices that all the beowolves must have ran away when the fire started but this grimm has instead ran towards it, keeping just out of reach. "Do you think it's running away from something?" Judy asks.

"One second." Nixi says, analyzing the grimm. "Beringel, not much is known about them, no known fears. Strange." The beringel sees them and grabs a large log off the ground before throwing it towards them, forcing them to jump over it with a boost from Nixi's jet. They look back over and it is gone. "What do you think that was about?"

"It had a knife in its back." Judy says.

"I guess it must have lost a fight against one of the students." Nixi says. "I suggest we chase it, if it catches someone off guard it could take their head off with that strength."

"I mean... we could..."

"We should." Nixi replies. "Ozpin said that he would be watching over everyone. If we let it go and someone gets hurt then you might get a penalty."

"Fine, I guess you have a point." Judy says, changing course and skidding round to the right to chase after the beringel. A roar echoes back to them, followed by a large thud and a tree far ahead of them falling down. "Great." Judy sighs, speeding on ahead.

* * *

Vak sees smoke rising in the distance and turns to charge towards it in expectance of a fight. A few beowolves run past him and he skewers a few of them before continuing on, holding his spear ahead of him as he goes. He hears a pattern of large thumps on the ground ahead of him, stopping in a clearing just before coming into contact with whatever is making the sounds. The beast runs forward and Vak gets the first strike, thrusting forward quickly and striking its body, only hitting its bone like armor and knocking it back. "Beringel, huh? I expected some large beowolf to be honest." Vak says, preparing another strike. The beringel covers its face and charges forward, roaring all the way. Vak strikes forward aiming for its legs but it jumps suddenly, grabbing Vak and throwing him across the clearing into a tree before attempting to run away again. Vak stands up and prepares his spear for a throw, aiming for the beringel's legs to pin it to the ground, but it is suddenly flying towards the way it came into the clearing, dragged by some kind of chain. Vak looks over and sees an orange haired girl standing there stood there with a metal arm-like thing coming out of her bag, which the chain is attached to. As soon as it is close enough, Vak lunges at it again, positioning himself between it and the girl, raising his spear to aim for its back. He stabs forward and pins the beast to the floor, causing the end of the chain to fly back to the metal arm, revealing the spike that had been shot into the beast's back.

Vak looks over to the girl, still holding the spear in place, and waves to her after remembering that she is Damien's friend. She raises her hand to wave back, although she seems to be avoiding looking directly at him, but puts it back down as she gets closer, taking a gun from her pocket and training it on the beast. Vak looks down and sees that there is a black knife stuck in its back, around where a person's heart would be, and reaches to take it out. "Don't touch it!" The girl yells, training another gun on him. "Please don't touch it." He slowly lowers his hand back onto the spear, firming the grip. She takes out a piece of cloth and wraps it around the knife's handle before attempting to yank it out, causing the beast to squirm with pain, throwing Vak off balance as he falls backwards, pulling the spear with him, and the beast swung at the girl, hitting her in the arm and sending her flying. Before she can hit anything, two different arms come out of her bag and plant themselves into two nearby trees to slow her down but she isn't stopping fast enough and the wood sounds like it is about to break from the pressure. Vak runs behind her, putting his spear on his back, and catches her as she flies backwards into him, almost knocking him off his feet. He looks down at her arm to check where she took the hit before noticing that she is unconscious. He lays her on the ground and looks around for the beast just to see it running further into the forest. Without thinking, Vak rips a strip off his sleeve and looks down to double check where she was hit only to see that the girl is awake again, looking around to see what happened.

"Are you okay?" Vak asks, offering her a hand. "I wasn't sure if you had time to activate your aura." She yawns and unthinkingly places her hand in his, allowing him to lift her to her feet.

"Thank you." She says, looking him in the face before realizing the situation. She instantly lets go of his hand and turns around with a huff. "Damnit." She sighs. Vak looks at her, confused, waiting for her to continue.

"Hello, I'm-" Vak begins after waiting a few minutes.

"Vak Skye." She says. "I'm not exactly a fan, but I know your company's work. You do a good job... for simple, mass produced weaponry anyway." She replies, turning back to talk to him properly. "I'm Judy. I guess we're a team from now on." She sighs, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

"Are you okay?" Vak asks.

"No, but it's not your fault..." Judy says, thinking about it for a second. "Well, it kinda is actually, but it's not you specifically." She says, sitting on the ground and pulling her backpack round to her front. "I wanted to be on a team with someone but now I'm on one with you, I would have been like this no matter who it was." She sighs, opening her backpack to reveal that it is almost empty except for a few wires hanging out of pockets in the walls of it and a few tools, which she begins using to tinker with the mechanics inside. "So yeah, I guess it pretty much is your fault actually."

"Yeah, I get it, but there's no need to be so mean about it." Vak says, sitting down next to her. "So, what're you up to." He says, peering into the bag to see that, although it is fairly large, it is very thin on the inside, with all 4 walls seeming to have stitching around the edge. She quickly moved it away from him.

"Making a few adjustments, my targeting was off." Judy says.

"Oh, so that's your weapon then. What does it do?"

"What doesn't it do." Judy replies, turning it back around to show him in excitement. "Arms come out of the sides here, there are four in total at the moment with different ends that attach to them. I can take direct control over it by pressing this button here, on the strap, which allows me to choose which attachments I want. Here is-"

"Wait a second." Vak cuts in. "What do you mean "direct control"? Don't you always have control over it?"

"Oh... umm... of course. I miss-spoke." Judy says, lying through her teeth.

"It's fine to tell him." Whispers a voice from the backpack. "He was talking to Luci last night, he seems fine."

"Who's Lucy?" Vak asks.

"Ah, you heard that?!" Judy says.

"I usually adventure alone, you have to heighten your senses if you want to survive." Vak explains. "So, your bag talks."

Judy sighs, opening the top of the backpack. "Okay then, I guess I have to trust you then." A three-sixty camera comes out and looks around, seeing Vak.

"Hello mister Skye, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is N9.1, or Nixi if you prefer." Nixi says.

"Nixi?" Vak says.

"Yes, that is what Luci has taken to calling me, based on my number and version, Number 9.1, changing the numbers to Roman numerals you get Number IX.I, which became Nixi." Nixi explains. "You many call me however you like, however."

"I think I'll just stick with Nixi." Vak says. "But who is Lucy? You said I talked to her last night." He continues, confused.

"Oh, that was a slip of the tongue. I was thinking of someone else."

"Anyway, we should get moving I guess. We're going to be a team from now on." Judy says, standing up and continuing to walk north.

"You know that there are four people per team, right?" Vak says, following after her.

"Wait, really?"


	5. Chapter 4: Formation: Eclipse

Chapter 4: Formation: Eclipse

"What the hell?" Artemis says, seeing a large, shadowy figure running in the distance. "Not touching that one." She says, sneaking in the other direction. She makes her way east, as her and Apollo had planned, trying to avoid any situations where there could be people on their own. There are plenty of situations when she's had to defend herself against animals but people were a new enemy for her, and to make it worse she should avoid them instead of taking them down to make it easier. She climbs one of the nearby trees and looks around, seeing no-one nearby. She continues to jump from tree to tree, and after seeing a fire to the north of her she speeds up to make sure she doesn't get caught in it. She sees a boy in a trench coat running towards it, presumably heading towards the relics, but decides to ignore him for now. Suddenly, there is a sound of chains rattling and before she knew it, the boy was on the tree behind her. He catches her by surprise and she nearly falls, only just keeping her footing but having to slow down a bit, allowing him to keep close. "What do you want?!" She yells back to him.

"Have you seen a big grimm run this way?! He took my knife!" The boy asks.

"Maybe?!" Artemis says, confused by the statement, still looking dead ahead. "I saw a big grimm heading north a few meters back!"

"Oh, that's good!" He replies. "I can see you're in a hurry and probably won't be able to help so, have you seen Judy around here?!"

"Who the hell is that?!" Artemis asks.

"Wait, don't you remember me?!" He says, only barely keeping up with her. "You slept with us last night!"

"What do you mean I-!" She yells, looking back to see the boy her brother was talking to the night before. "You!" She yells. He looks up to her face before tripping on one of the branches, flipping forwards. She jumps down after him, stabbing an arrow into the tree she was on to slow herself down before grabbing him by the collar of his trench-coat. He has the front of the coat undone so he simply slips out of it and falls the rest of the way, which only ended up being a few feet, landing hard on a pile of twigs. Artemis, distracted by this, forgets that she is only holding on by an arrow, which snaps, causing her to fall on top of him as he tries to stand up, back to back. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" She yells, quickly pushing off him and getting to her feet. "That was an easy jump, how did you miss?!"

"Well I'm sorry, I grew up in the city, my targets are usually a lot larger!" He says. "Plus, you distracted me!"

"Screw you! We were both talking!" She says, pointing in his face. "If you're going to blame me, then at least take some responsibility yourself!"

He sighs. "Whatever, I'm over it." He says, brushing the dirt off his shirt. It is bright green with a chain patterns running all over it, seemingly randomly.

"You don't seem like the bright colours type of guy." She says, waving his coat around in front of him. "Although, it matches the stripe in your hair."

"I'm not and shut up." He says, snatching it out of her hand. "A friend made it for me."

"Cute, but it gives you away really easily."

"That's why I wear the coat, smartass." He retorts, continuing before she can reply. "I'm Damien."

"Why are you introducing yourself now?" She asks.

"Well, we're partners now." He says, holding out his hand for a shake. "Artemis, right? Welcome to team JADE."

"Oh yeah, eye contact... damnit." She says. "Wait, how do you know what our team name is going to be?"

"Well, I'm just hoping. Since I found someone with an A initial, hopefully Judy should find someone with an E."

"That's stupid, you don't even know if you will be in a team with her."

"I will be, I have to be." Damien says, taking a much more serious tone. Artemis knows not to push this any further.

"So anyway, do you know which way we're going now?" She changes the subject.

"I did before I started following you, I was heading north."

"And I was going east but lost track one we started falling." They both look at each other and sigh. "So, what now?"

"Get to higher ground?" He says, pointing to a nearby tree. "If you climb up there you should be able to see the fire we went past, if we just go left from that then it should be north, right?"

"So why don't you climb up?" She asks. Instead of explaining, Damien simply takes the mold off his left hand. "Okay, fair enough, but how did you get up the trees to begin with?"

"I jumped, but I can't jump all the way to the top."

"Fine." She grumbles. "I guess I'll have to do all the work in this pair then." She climbs up to the highest branch that will support her weight and looks for the smoke. Once she sees it, she points to it for Damien to see the direction but as she's about to climb down, she notices a hold appear in the pillar of smoke and a large, bird like grimm emerge from it before two figures seem to jump up onto it and it begins to fly north.

"What's wrong?!" Damien yells. Artemis thinks for a second before continuing to climb down.

"Nothing! Just looking around a bit more!" She replies, thinking that whatever their predicament is, they can handle it themselves. "We should get going before the fire spreads."

"Okay then, north should be that way, if were you pointed was right at least." Damien says. "By the way, is that bow all you've got?" He asks, pointing to the wooden bow on her back.

"Yes, of course. What, you want me to carry more than one weapon with me at all times?"

"If it helps you survive but that's not my point. Most people have some kind of multi-weapon here right? I'm just surprised you got in using that alone."

"I have good improvisation skills." She says.

"Ever think about getting a new one?"

"If I ever need an upgrade then I'll upgrade this one instead."

"But... it's made of wood, that'll be hard to upgrade."

"What are you, an enthusiast?"

"Not really, but I just want my partner to have a weapon good enough to save my life if needed, are you confident you could do that with that bow?"

Artemis looks down, taking a second to think, before raising her head again and nodding firmly. "Yes, I could."

"Good, now how fast can you run?"

"Pretty fast, why?"

"Good, then keep up." He says before dashing off to the north. Artemis follows behind him, catching up easily as he takes time to not trip on any branches. They run at full speed, passing quite a lot of grimm along the way but deciding that they aren't worth dealing with, only taking a few of them out while Artemis uses them as target practice while they move. "So, how many grimm have you killed before?" Damien asks, presumably to slow her down so he can keep up.

"I don't know. We live outside the cities, so we have to kill a lot of them anyway. How about you?"

"One." He replies simply.

"Only one? And you decided to make a career out of it?"

"I'm not in this to kill grimm, I'm here to kill monsters." He says, still running with an unchanged expression. An awkward silence follows, although it was vague, Artemis understands what he means. "I lived in the city, I actually went to Signal for a while."

"Y-yeah." Artemis says, still taken aback by lack of care he showed towards what he had said.

"Got kicked out on my second year though, got into a fight." He says plainly. Artemis isn't sure if he's being serious and opening up or setting up some kind of punchline, it seems weird how open he's being all of a sudden, either way, she knew she had to reply with something.

"They kick you out for fighting in a combat school?"

"Not normally, only if you show that you are too much of a threat."

Artemis is shocked by this and moves away from him slightly. "What do you mean?" She asks shakily.

"I mean that I showed I was a threat to the other students, so they kicked me out." He finally realizes what he is saying and corrects himself. "It was an accident of course, it was an arranged fight with a third year that got out of hand." Hearing this, she starts moving closer to him with a sigh of relief. "I mean, I did cut her leg off but..." Artemis instantly dashes back away from him, keeping a few arms distances away. "Come on! It was an accident!"

"How do you accidentally cut someone's leg off!"

"We both got a little crazy, you can ask her yourself if you don't trust me!"

"You mean she's at this academy! Does she know you're here?!"

"Of course, she's my best friend!"

"Wait, it's that Judy girl! Why the hell does she trust you!"

"Do you want to keep talking or do you want to get the relic?!" After he says this, Artemis falls silent, speeding back up to her regular speed to get ahead of him. "You know, if you don't trust me, it would be safer to be to my side so that you can see if I'm preparing to attack you!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Artemis says, continuing the conversation on for a while longer.

* * *

"Do you hear that?" Judy says, hearing someone yelling in the distance. "It sounds like Luci." She says with excitement.

"I know we're quite far behind him, but he might still be able to hear you." Nixi says, swinging through the trees behind Vak, who jumps from branch to branch. "He seems to be heading north, we should run into him eventually, just be patient."

"You know I can still hear you, right?" Vak says back to them. "If you want, we could start heading that way."

Judy sighs. "No. We should keep heading north. We'll see him once we get to the temple anyway." She hears a hiss from below her and instantly swings up onto the branch. "Did you hear that?" She asks Vak, who is also on top of his branch.

"Yeah, I did." He says. "I think we should go quickly."

"Analysis complete. King Taijitu, serpent. Quick, lunging strikes. If we run, it may jump up to us." Nixi states. "We may have to destroy it before moving on."

"I... really don't want to." He says, putting his back against the tree. "I... really don't like snakes."

"Really? Big guy like you?" Judy says.

"What, is there nothing you're scared of?"

"Well, yeah, but not these. Despite their name, they're fairly fragile. I've heard stories of people winning two on one fights against these things all the time, they're barely a threat if you see them coming."

"Okay, and how many have you killed?"

"Grimm in general or these ones specifically? Because the answer to both of those questions is none."

"Wait, are you serious?" He says, genuinely shocked. "I mean, there are even some grimm inside the city walls, it's not exactly hard for them to sneak in, but you've never killed even one?"

"No, why would I have? I'm coming here to learn to fight them, why would I come here if I thought I was ready to fight them?"

"That's..." Vak begins before thinking it over. "Actually, a good point. I wonder how many other people have come here without fighting any grimm."

"Oh yeah, you're some kind of adventurer, right? What's your count?"

"That depends, do you count grimm that don't fight back?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, a few places I've been to search have had a lot of these weird, orb grimm, but all they did was sit around so I get them just in case."

"I guess so, they were still grimm after all."

"Then a couple of hundred."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, why? Is that too many?"

"That's insane!" Judy says, continuing to compliment him for a little while before getting back on topic. "So, have you calmed down now?"

"Yeah, actually. Thanks for that." Vak says, looking down to see a large, black line waving around beneath the trees. "I mean, I still really don't want-" Judy jumps down before he can finish and he's forced to jump after her.


	6. Chapter 5: Unofficial Team JADE

Chapter 5: Unofficial Team JADE

"There's no point keeping our distance from this one, it will be able to get almost anywhere in one motion in this small of an area." Nixi explains. "Both of you, close range combat." Vak charges forward as soon as his feet hit the ground, running to where he thinks he heard the hissing sound, holding his spear to block his whole body. Judy pulls out her guns and their shields extend from the sides as she positions one to protect her face and the other over her chest. The grimm strikes suddenly, hitting its teeth against Vak's spear and sending him flying backwards. Judy fires as soon as she sees it but doesn't do much significant damage. As she fires she notices that it's getting slightly darker and the flash from her guns is seeming more intense because of this. She looks up and sees that the trees are blocking most of the light from getting in. She knows that she'll be fine in the dark but isn't sure about Vak so looks over to him. In that moment, the king taijitu flies forwards but instead of hitting Judy, it dodges to the right and wraps itself around her as she gains her bearings. She fires up towards where she thinks its head is, but it doesn't seem affected. Nixi's arms extend, using her duel knives attachments to pry open one of its coils for Judy to climb through. As soon as Judy can see through a gap in her potential coffin, she sees Vak running towards her, spear in hand as he jumps up over her. She hears the grimm hiss louder before a loud bang and the force that was restricting her was released, allowing her to push her way through the dissolving grimm.

"Are you okay?" Vak says as soon as he sees her. Before Judy can get a word in, Vak is pushed back by Nixi's arms as another king taijitu barrels between them, taking off both of Nixi's arms and ramming head first into a tree.

"keep your guard up." Nixi says to them both, bringing out her other two arms, with a sward in the right and a shield in the left. "There are more of them."

"Yeah, we see that!" Vak says, re-drawing his spear.

"Not just this one." Nixi says. Judy listens more carefully and realizes that the hissing they had been hearing was coming from all around them since the beginning of the fight. "Charge while it is stunned." Nixi says, raising her sword and positioning the shield to block any sudden attacks. The stunned grimm recovers quicker than they expected and strikes at Judy with its teeth, but it is easily blocked and parried with Nixi's shield, smashing the tooth and sending it flying into the distance as Nixi strikes with her sword, stabbing into the inside of the top of its mouth. The grimm tries to close its mouth but Vak jumps from its side and stabs down into the bottom of its mouth. Judy pulls her guns up, aiming down its throat and firing until she is out of bullets. The grimm falls to the ground and begins to disappear. Vak and Judy spin around, expecting another surprise attack but instead see a group of people that with their weapons drawn. Listening out, Judy notices that the hissing has stopped.

"Is everyone alright?" The one at the front asks. He has long, flowing hair and seems to not have any weapons on him. His skin is tanned, and he is wearing a white jumper, which doesn't seem to be associated with any school. "My name is Jayce, and you are?" He says, looking to Judy.

"Oh, umm... Judy Apelsin." She replies shakily. Although he seems kind enough he gives off an air of power.

"And you are Vak Skye, correct?" He continues. Vak stays quiet but nods his head. "This is my partner-"

"We've met already." The boy says, closing his book and walking towards Vak. "Although, we have not been introduced officially. I'm Apollo Titana, we met last night, I believe."

"Oh yeah, you were sat against the wall reading a book." Vak says.

"And we met in the afternoon." He says to Judy. "In the courtyard with Damien. I think you were asleep the second time we met, however."

"Yeah, probably." Judy says, her head already hurting from meeting too many new people.

"I am Eyuno Miae." The girl at the back says. Her hair is long, but it is tied up tightly and braided so that it looks a lot tidier than Jayce's, who lets it float freely. "And this is-" She begins, gesturing to her left before realizing that no-one is stood there. Judy and Vak look to each other in confusion, Jayce giggles to himself, so that Eyuno doesn't hear, and Apollo sighs before going back to reading his book. "Damnit Dalos! Where did you go?!" She says. "You're embracing me!"

"Aww, I'm sorry." Comes a voice from above her. "I didn't mean to." He says, appearing from thin air, hanging upside down above her. After hearing him, she jumps straight up, like she's used to it, and smacks straight into him, causing him to fall to the floor. Judy and Vak look to each other with even more confusion now.

"Oh, there you are." She says, gritting her teeth. "Since he won't introduce himself properly, this is Dalos Guile."

"Pleasure to meet you." He says with an overly exaggerated bow. "And you, lady Apelsin, I believe." He says, taking her hand in his.

"Umm..." Judy says, slowly taking her hand away from his before he snaps back away from her.

Eyuno releases the back of his collar and begins to give him a talking to as he repeats "I was kidding," and "it was a joke" almost like a chant. Judy gets a better look at them and notices that they are both wearing the same uniform, although it isn't one she recognizes off the top of her head. Eyuno's golden yellow hair that almost shines in the darkness, whereas Dalos had dark brown hair which was short and messy, almost making him stand out in the opposite way. Although they were clearly the same uniform, they both wore them very differently, Eyuno wore it with pride, her shirt tucked into her knee length skirt and her blazer straight and smart. Dalos on the other hand wore his blazer like a cape, tying it around his neck, and had creases all over his shirt and trousers, which wouldn't normally stand out in the dark, but he somehow made it obvious, almost looking intentional.

"Are those two okay?" Vak finally asks.

"Yeah, they were fighting the first time we met as well, they should be fine." Jayce answers.

"We're not fighting." Eyuno says, turning away from Dalos. "I have to keep him in check, otherwise he might cause trouble for everyone."

"So, you two know each other then?" Vak asks, while Judy begins to fiddle with Nixi, listening to them in the background.

"Well, yeah, we-"

"We're dating." Dalos says, sneaking up and putting his arm around her. She instantly grabs his arm and swings him around before smashing him into the ground.

"As I was saying, we were in the same class at Sanctum Academy." She says. "And we aren't dating."

"but you said we would be together forever." Dalos says, crocodile tears in his eyes.

"I said that in a bad way, I'm going to have to stick to you until you behave like a civilized person." She sighs. "Look, we don't have time to talk about this, we need to go and get these relics. Dalos, go on ahead. You can see in the dark, so it'll be easier for you to get around." She says. "Do you two know which way is north?" Judy looks in her bag and Nixi points in the direction the four of them came from using the smaller arms on the inside of the bag.

"You just came from the north." She says, pointing the same way.

"Dalos! You told us-" Eyuno begins before realizing that he is gone again. Vak begins to giggle along with Jayce but Eyuno just begins running after him before Judy stops her.

"I can see in the dark too, if you want me to go after him." She says, standing from her seat on a fallen log.

"Oh, you're a faunus too?" She asks. Judy points to the gills on her neck before jumping after Dalos. Once she thinks she is far away enough, she tells Nixi to activate the jet for only a second and uses the speed boost to run faster along the trees, only using Nixi's arms when, necessary to save power. Dalos must see her coming because there is a sudden crash as he jumps down in front of them after materializing above them, forcing Nixi to use a lot of power to slow them down fast enough and almost dislocating Judy's shoulders.

"Yo!" He yells up to her. "Did they send you after me?!"

"No, I came after you to ask you some questions!" Judy yells back, letting Nixi lower her towards him. "You're a faunus, right?"

"Of course, didn't you see the tail?" He says, wagging his foxlike tail back and forth.

"Have you... ever been to Menagerie?" She asks hesitantly.

"No, and I'm assuming you haven't either." He replies, getting positioned on a nearby log, one leg up to rest his arm on his knee. "That wasn't what you really wanted to ask me though, was it?"

Judy lands in front of him and looks him dead in the eyes. "Have you... been invited to the White Fang?" Judy asks, not breaking eye contact. Dalos looks back at her, pausing to figure out what to say.

"… What if I said you?" He finally says.

"I would be inclined to believe you; your abilities would probably be useful to them, although you seem uncontrollable." Judy explains.

He seems taken aback by this. "What do you mean by that?"

"Your semblance, you can become transparent but only when you're having fun." She analyses.

"How do you-"

"That would be my semblance, analysis."

"So, what, you can just figure out anyone's semblance?" He asks, dumbfounded.

"Of course not, there are limits." Judy says, brushing the question aside. "We should really get going, it's going to get dark soon." Judy finishes, continuing to run north, ignoring Dalos shouting after her.


	7. Chapter 6: Relics

Chapter 6: Relics

Luci stops suddenly, causing Artemis to slide to slow down fast enough so that she doesn't hit him. She gets ready to yell at him but looks up and sees the temple, or a few pillars at least, with a half-circle of pedestals around the edge, some with golden items on top and some with black ones. Luci scoffs at it, walking over to the center of it and looking at all the chess pieces around him.

"Do you mind if I look around a bit more?" Luci asks Artemis, who is playing with one of the golden pieces. "I'll take that as-"

"I have a question." Artemis interrupts. "What do you think this mean?"

Luci thinks for a second, not about what they mean but about how to respond. "Maybe it means that once we pick one, that will be our role at the academy, like pawns on a chess board."

"That's stupid." Artemis says. "I hope I don't get a stupid one." Luci stays silent. "Whatever, we just need to take two of these, right?"

"What? No, we only take one."

"But don't we need one each?"

"For each pair! Did you even listen?" Luci exasperates, genuinely surprised that she misunderstood so badly.

"Fine, whatever! Which do you want then?" Artemis says.

"Well, there aren't too many left so..." Luci thinks, walking over to the remaining black pieces. "I think we should take the black knight piece."

"Is that the horse one?" Artemis says. "Because I want this gold one." She says, picking up the golden queen piece.

"Why? You want to be royalty or something?" He says, raising the black knight. "Plus, it's white, not gold. Have you ever even played chess?"

"Shut up! This one looks nice! It is probably worth more!"

"We can't sell them! They belong to the academy!" Luci says, shaking his head. "Look, let's just play rock, paper, scissors to see who chooses." He says, placing the piece down and walking back to the center. "Although I will tell you, I never lose."

"Yeah, sure." She says, copying him. "It's based on luck; how can you possibly win every game?" She says, continuing without waiting for an answer. "Rock! Paper!" She yells, before he can catch his bearings, quickly getting his hand ready. "Scissors!" She yells, throwing a rock forwards as he reveals his scissors.

"That was a dirty play." He says, almost impressed.

"Well, I still won, so-" She begins, walking back to the pedestal before a loud crash stops her in her tracks. The pedestal she was walking towards collapses into the canyon behind it, as does the floor around it. A boy suddenly materializes where it was, jumping up just before the ground around him slides down.

"I found the relics!" He says, holding up the white queen relic.

"Hey! That's ours!" Artemis complains before they hear a sound behind them and turn to see Judy running towards them. Luci quickly runs over and grabs both black knight pieces.

"Catch!" He yells, throwing one to Judy before putting the other in his pocket. "Let's go!" He says, pointing to the cliffside, that he can see because they are in a large clearing.

"Wait!" Judy yells at him. "There's something behind us!" She yells as a grimm charges through the tree-line towards them, running at full speed.

"God damn-it!" Luci yells, recognizing it as the one that has his knife. He charges towards it, running past Judy and jumping at it before grabbing onto its head. "Don't make me get serious!" He yells, pulling on its mask-like bones before getting thrown off into the forest.

* * *

"Get back here!" Artemis yells, beginning to run after him but is cut off by Judy.

"We need to handle this first." She says, spreading her arms out. "Dalos! Go and get everyone else!" She yells to nothing as the boy is already gone.

"What are you doing? I've taken out loads of grimm before, I can take it." Artemis says.

"This beringel's smart, it ambushed us on the way over here, I'm only okay because Dalos took the hit for me." Judy explains. "From analyzing its attack patterns, it looks for the right time to attack before it attempts to strike, like when you let down your guard or when you get tired out."

"Then we just have to kill it before it kills us." Artemis says, clearly not listening very intently. She pushes past Judy, bow in hand, and fires a barrage of arrows at the beringel, which it easily blocks with the bones on its arm before picking up a nearby tree and throwing it at them, but must have overestimated the weight because it goes flying over them and over the edge of the cliff behind them. "Okay, what's your plan?"

"Lu- Damien's knife is in its back, if Luci can take it out, that might kill it, if not then we can work from there but that should be our target right now... So basically-" Nixi's arms quickly extend, picking up a fallen part of the temple and using it to block another tree. "- survive until everyone else gets here." She finishes as Nixi throws the stone at the beast, throwing it back towards the tree-line. Judy immediately pulls out her guns and begins to fire, aiming one at its leg and the other at its arm, firing both together. "Problem is, we're both long range fighters, unless that stick of yours can change into a chainsaw or something."

"Well... I can turn it into a whip." She says, untying the string on one side.

"That doesn't really help much. Anything else?"

"It's getting dark." Artemis says.

"It can see in the dark, all grimm can." Judy says, turning to see Artemis walking towards the beast.

"We just need to distract it for a few minutes, the moon should be up soon." She says, whipping the beast and wrapping the string around its arm, pulling the beast forwards. "Many beasts have fallen in front of me, through death or respect." She says, looking into the beast's eyes. "You won't be my last." The beringel suddenly kicks forwards, which would have sent Artemis flying if she wasn't attached to the beast, instead it gives her momentum to throw the beast up into the air before whipping it again, around the neck, and swinging it down. Judy fires as soon as it hits the ground, running forwards so that Nixi's better weapons are in range. Nixi equips a sawblade on one arm and a chainsaw on the other. Judy jumps forwards while firing at where she thinks its legs are while Nixi activates the saws, targeting its arms to cut through the bone. The beast jumps back, avoiding almost all the hits heading its way, getting the bone on its right arm ripped off, while upper-cutting the chainsaw with its left arm, cutting its arm apart but also breaking that metal arm as well. It charges forwards while they are both distracted but is suddenly stopped in its tracks as Luci jumps at it from the side, grabbing onto its head for grip as he yanks the knife out as hard as he can. The beast collapses with a whimper as Luci jumps off its back.

"Well, that was annoying." He says. "Judy, this is Artemis, Artemis, this is Judy."

"Oh yeah, it is you." Artemis says, remembering the girl asleep in the corner. "So, you his girlfriend or something then?" She says, expecting some type of reaction but instead Judy and Luci continue talking, catching up on what's been going on. "Hey, don't ignore me." She pouts.

"We should probably get back on track." Luci says. "Also, dodge." He says as a large fist comes crashing down where Artemis is stood. Artemis rolls out of the way, just barely dodging its fist. "It's still alive by the way."

"Why couldn't you tell us sooner!?" She yells, preparing her bow.

"It hadn't started to disintegrate yet." Judy says. "It was clearly alive."

"You too!?" She yells again, readying a few arrows. "Whatever, you got a plan now?"

"That depends, what happens when the moon is out?" She asks.

"I would prefer not to say." Artemis answers.

"Then I guess we survive until the rest get here." The beast roars and backs away towards the tree-line. "Unless it just leaves, then we can go back to the cliff I guess." Judy continues, still training her gun on the beast. A blue spear suddenly flies towards the beast, pinning its arm to a tree, and Vak jumps out from behind the tree-line.

"We need to run!" He yells, looking behind him. Another fire starts behind him and four more people emerge from behind him, followed by a horde of beowolves.

"What happened!?" Judy asks.

"We found a cave, it had some injured students inside but when we tried to get them out these beowolves started chasing us!" Vak says. The fire spreads quicker than before and quickly surrounds them.

"I guess running is out of the question." Luci says, readying his knife. "By the way, where's Judy's partner gone?"

"I'm right here." Vak says, standing by his side.

"But... then..." Luci says before sighing with the realization. "Guess team JADE isn't happening." He shakes it off, running towards the closest beowolf, quickly stabbing it in the head before ripping the knife out from the side. Vak and Artemis run towards the beast but as soon as Vak gets close enough to get his weapon back, the beast swings at him with his other arm, knocking him back across the field. Judy watches from afar, firing at any beowolves that get too close, observing how the three of them are acting together.

"Vak! Artemis!" She yells to them, calling them over. "I'll distract it with my bullets, Vak, run at it but dodge its attack, Artemis, shoot and arrow into its arm as soon as Vak gets his spear back." She says, readying her aim on the beringel and firing as much as she can. Vak charges forwards, dodging its swing but immediately being kicked instead. Artemis panics and fires her arrows into the beast's arm, missing and hitting the tree behind it. Unable to slow down fast enough, she ends up running straight into it and it grabs her, smashing her against the tree, more importantly the spear, pushing it through and releasing its arm. She pulls out an arrow, but it grips harder, stopping her movement and causing her to drop it. Judy watches, knowing that if she shoots then she might hit her. Artemis' aura goes red for a second and Vak charges forwards without thinking but as Judy watches, she sees her aura change again, this time to a glowing silver.


	8. Chapter 7: Pack

Chapter 7: Pack

Artemis glows brighter and brighter before she begins to change. She gets wider and taller, growing until the beast can't hold her, changing shape all the while, arms extending and flattening out into paws, face stretching and narrowing, silver hair growing all over her. Two beowolves lunge at her during her transformation but she swings back, smacking them with a large paw and ripping them both in half. The beringel attempts to run away but Luci quickly jumps up onto it, grabbing the bones on its face again, this time using his knife for leverage to rip it off, leaving its face completely exposed. Everyone except Apollo is stunned but keep fighting off the never-ending swarm of beowolves. The glowing aura dims and reveals a silver bear in Artemis's place, roaring at the beringel, which grips its face in pain, before pouncing at it and pinning it to the floor. The beast still tries to claw its way into the forest until the fire reaches that area and they are surrounded. The Artemis bear swiftly bites into the beast's head before yanking up, ripping it clean off. A loud roar emerges from the bear and she turns to the beowolves as the last of them enter the clearing. There are at least two for every person there, but they seem to pause a moment after the beringel is defeated. The bear looks up at the sky and Judy follows her gaze, seeing the moon almost covered by smoke. Apollo follows this too, looking to the bear before nodding.

* * *

Artemis charges towards the beowolves, swiping at them with her front paws, but they don't attack back, instead they just dodge her. The rest of them join in, taking them out one by one as they try to evade their attacks, but after a minute there are still five of them left. Artemis begins to transform back as the smoke covers the moon and as soon as she begins to glow, all five beowolves jump at her. No one expects the assault so there is no time to stop them, although Luci jumps in front of one, taking the attack in her place, Artemis still takes a few cuts across her arms and back. Now they begin attacking while an unconscious Artemis lays on the ground, first attacking Luci, who used the last of his aura protecting Artemis, grabbing him and throwing him into the burning forest before he could get his bearings, before targeting the group with Apollo as they had taken the brunt of the first assault, until the only person left with an aura is Judy, who stayed back the entire time trying to pick them off. Apollo and Vak back up to Judy's position and the others follow suit.

"What are we going to do?" Vak says. "They caught us off guard."

"I'm sorry, I could have stopped them if I knew what they were going to do." Judy says. "You two just need to grab one of the relics so we can get out of here." She continues, pointing to Apollo and Jayce.

"Got it. Apollo, go, I'll cover you." Jayce orders, pulling out his weapon for the first time since the fight started. It looks like a large T with a point on the lower part. Jayce jumps back and lands on top of one of the pillars of the temple, planting the top of the metal T upside down into it. The length of his weapon slides until it is slanted about ten degrees before opening at the end. "Now!" Jayce yells, activating his weapon to launch a red light out of the end. As soon as the projectile begins to fall, Apollo runs for the relic, aiming for the while king piece, and the projectile explodes in the air, raining fire on the ground just behind Apollo.

Jayce looks to be reloading as the beowolves begin their next attack, one going after Jayce while the rest attack the small group. Dalos appears again as he falls from the sky onto one of them as hole appears in its chest. Dalos seems to throw something at another but no-one else could see what it was until the beowolf goes flying sideways. "Your turn Eyuno." He says with a laugh before disappearing again.

"Great." She sighs, stepping in front of the group. She takes some papers out of her pocket, throwing them up in the air and bringing her hands back down, causing them to all come together in front of them to form a barrier. As soon as the beowolves hit it, she pushes her hands back out and the barrier falls forwards, burying them beneath it, before she throws up two more handfuls of crumpled paper which turn into huge hammers that come down and crush the beowolves beneath the paper walls. After finishing that, Dalos and Eyuno look back to Jayce and Apollo to see that the beowolf had already ran past Apollo and was heading straight towards Jayce, who was too close to use mortar fire. Eyuno and Judy ready their weapons but Dalos stops them.

"Don't you think Polo is running a bit slow?" He says. "When we were coming here, he was much faster." Apollo looks back, checking the distance between him and the rest of them, before crouching down onto one knee and drawing his bow, cocking back an arrow and firing at the beowolf as it jumps up Jayce. The arrow pushes the grimm forwards faster, heading straight for him, but instead of dodging, Jayce grabs the grimm by the arm as it passes, swinging him into the mortar he had created. Judy analyses the weapon to find that, although it is thick, the edges stick out to make blades all the way along it, so as soon as the grimm hits it, it is cut to shreds before it is thrown to the ground.

"Nice work!" Jayce yells to Apollo, picking up his weapon and hoisting it onto his back. Apollo just nods in response, grabbing the relic before spinning around and running back, Jayce in tow.

"Is that all of them?" Vak asks.

"We still need to go and get Damien." Judy says, pointing in the direction he flew in. "They separated him specifically, so he might be in trouble." She says before growls and whimpers emerge from the forest. Judy doesn't bother to check if they are following her, instead she just runs ahead.

* * *

Luci only feels the heat for a second and looks back to see that only the first few lines of trees are on fire and the rest are fine. He gets suspicious and tries to stop as fast as possible by using his spike arm to slow him down before he skids to a stop. Looking around, he sees no-one there but hears growls all around him. From the darkness comes a girl, a very red girl, red hair, red dress, it's almost like it's the only colour she knows.

"Hello." She says in a lower pitch than he expects. "I thought I recognized you but couldn't pin it down until I saw you fight." She continues after a long pause. "Roman Torchwick. Name ring any bells?"

"Oh great, another one of his goons I take it?" Luci responds. "What do you want this time? Didn't they tell you what happened to the last guy who came to take me back?"

The girl giggles. "If I was going to take you back, you wouldn't have a choice. No, I'm here on more important business." She says, looking towards the fire. "Roman has begun working for me, I don't like it, but orders are orders. However, what I need is his gang, not him. If you could-"

"If you're asking me to kill him and take his gang then I'm going to have to say no, one because I still have quite a bit of respect for him, and two because I probably can't beat him anyway." Luci pre-emptively responds.

"Well, that is disappointing." She says. "Although that also works fine with me." She smiles, a malicious grin. "We could still use your help however. You see, we believe one of our associates, the white fang, has a spy in this academy. They are the newest addition to our plan, so we feel that we need our own personal agent, and you seem like a prime candidate. I am here to invite you to join us."

"And why do you think I would work with you?"

"Because Roman talks highly of you, and there are few people he grants that respect to, although he did say that you have become much weaker since you left him." She explains. "He says you had a thirst for blood, a thirst for excitement that you were willing to do anything to satisfy. You knew when to play with your victims and when to treat them like serious threats. Honestly, just hearing about it made me... intrigued." She continues. Luci doesn't want to join her but gets the feeling that turning her down wouldn't be a good idea either. He thinks stalling for time is his best option.

"And if I say I'm not like that anymore?" He says.

"Then I guess you will have to die." She says. "Although, if you're going to make me kill you, I would like to know something." Luci doesn't ask what it is and just lets her talk. "Roman said that you had the ability to influence people, but I haven't seen you do that once since you got here, in fact I have only seen you display some type of luck." She says, red eyes staring into his. "These both seem too powerful to be pure talents, they seem more akin to semblances, but it should be impossible to have two."

Luci is put off by this, he jerks back and goes to grab his knife, but he looks back up to the girl and she is just grinning back with his knife in her hand. "I guess I don't have much of a choice then, do I?" He says, lowering his hand to his side. "But I would like to know the name of the people I'm working with."

"Well, we don't have a specific name, per se, but my name is Cinder." She says, turning her back to him. "To show you who we are though..." She says, snapping her fingers to summon ten beowolves around them, stopping them as they come into view. "This test should answer that question for you. Survive this, and we will get into contact with you in a few days. We will know if you tell anyone about us, and I cannot be killed by the likes of you." She says, walking deeper into the forest. "Good luck."

As soon as she says this, the grimm begin to attack. These ones seem a lot younger than the ones before, less intelligent, but there are still enough of them in this tight space that it may be a problem. Luci instinctively goes for his knife, finding it in its sheath, where it should have been. The first grimm that gets close enough, he jams the knife into their neck before ripping it out and kicking the grimm away, causing it to hit a few on the way. He isn't used to fighting grimm but these seem easy enough to him. He runs towards a few of them, seeing if he can catch them off guard, but they swing as soon as he gets close, knocking him away. That's when he remembers two important things, firstly that his aura has depleted, and secondly that grimm are much less predictable and reactive than people. He takes the hit to his arm and drops his knife, reaching to pick it up only to get scratched again by one of the grimm, this time across his back. The grimm that attacked him doesn't get away fast enough, so he turns around and stabs it in the stomach, aiming for weak points. Another beowolf runs over and bats at him, sending him into a tree, where he smacks his back against it before dodging another beowolf as it swipes at him, managing to cut its arm but not enough to do any significant damage.

"Damnit." Luci pants. "I'm gunna... have to take this seriously." He says before his vision dim and he closes his eyes.


	9. Chapter 8: Bloodlust

Chapter 8: Bloodlust

Damien opens his eyes before jumping up suddenly, pushing off the ground with his hand before swiping wildly with his spike-arm, jabbing one of the grimm in the face. "Well, at least I can take this seriously now. Maybe this will be more fun than last time." He says with a smile, aiming his arm towards the sky before firing the shotgun inside it to propel himself downwards, turning at the last second to fire again at the grimm he had already injured, blowing its head off. A grimm swings at him but he dodges, aiming his arm at it and shooting out his spike before spinning around, catching them all in his chain before bringing them all to him while he reaches for his knife. "What the-" he begins, not finding the knife. The closest beowolf takes advantage of this and charges at him with its teeth, biting down on his arm but only hitting his aura and knocking him back. He sees a black object pointing out of the ground and dashes towards it. When a grimm tries to attack him, its attack goes too high and misses him, just as he wanted, and he makes it to the knife, taking it out of the ground and slicing at the beowolf in front of him, cutting it in two. Five beowolves remained now but they seem a lot more cautious, hanging back as he regains his composure. Although he's having fun, he still doesn't want to take any chances. He shoots out his spike again, this time at the one furthest away, and throws the knife behind it. One of the closer ones manages to grab the chain and stop the spike but the knife continues and hits the far away grimm. Damien reals the chain back in while jumping in the air to drag himself over there instead, kicking off the grimm that grabbed the chain and jumping to the one with the knife in its chest, pulling it out in one motion.

"Damien!" He hears someone in the distance yelling.

"Great, now I have to finish this quickly." He says. The remaining four grimm rush him at once and he ducks under them, sliding under their feet as they jump and cutting one of them to pieces from behind. The second goes down easy when he cuts off its leg and jabs it in the head with his spike. The third one tries to attack again but Damien jumps over it, shooting into the air again to bring his knee down on it faster, breaking its back. The final one tries to run but is stopped by a girl in a red dress, standing at the edge of the clearing.

* * *

"Damien!" Artemis yells, searching through the forest with the rest of them.

"Are you okay?" Vak asks. "You sure you don't need a bit more rest?"

"I'm fine. We need to find Damien so that we can all go back." She says. "He's supposed to be my partner, it'll look bad if I lose him on our first day."

"Okay, but why did you send the others back?" He asks.

"We have matching relics, I'm pretty sure that makes us a team." Judy answers. "Plus, in the worst-case scenario... we need the least number of witnesses." She mumbles. She sees a tree with four-line shaped holes forming a cross mark. "He should be..." She begins before cutting herself off, hearing a laugh a bit further ahead. She sneaks forwards until she can see him out in a small clearing surrounded by black smoke, presumably from dead grimm, and watches, waiting for him to notice her.

"Hey! I found him!" She hears someone yell. She instinctively runs over to the voice, who turns out to be Artemis, knowing that all the others' auras are depleted. As soon as she gets in distance, she throws herself at Artemis, extending her arms to block the sudden attack as Luci's knife comes flying at her, hitting her aura but only knocking her back slightly. He jumps at them, attempting another attack after she realizes that Judy's aura is nearly gone, but Nixi's final arm pops out and shocks him, stunning him and sending him up in the air. Artemis is too confused to do anything and simply stands there as Luci's body comes tumbling to the ground before Judy catches him.

"Are you okay?" She says.

"Great." Luci says with a sigh. "It's been a while since we had a fight."

"Yeah, I guess it has." She replies with a slight smile before he passes out in her arms. She lays him on the ground before calling for Vak to come and pick him up.

"What happened?" Vak asks, being too far away to respond to Artemis's call.

"Luci was in a frenzy so I had to stop him." Judy says. "He should wake up soon."

"But we need to get to the ceremony." Vak says. "Will he be up in time?"

"Wait, what ceremony?" Judy says.

"Oh yeah, my brother told me about it when he was here. After this test, we go to a ceremony to get our team officially formed." He explains. "I'm not sure when it starts so we should get back soon."

"Okay then, can you carry him?" Judy asks. "I'm too tired and N9 only has one arm left."

"Who's N9?" Artemis finally speaks up. They both look to each other before Judy sighs.

"I'll explain later, we need to get back first." She says, waiting until Luci is picked up and walking alongside Vak to make sure Luci doesn't fall while Artemis walks along behind them.

* * *

"Ruby Rose." Luci hears as he wakes up. He looks around to see that he is in a crowd of people, sitting in-between Judy and Vak.

"What the hell is going on?" He asks, already starting to piece it together.

"We found you and brought you here." Judy says. "They're making the teams now."

"Jayce Chris, Apollo Titana, Eyuno Miae, Dalos Guile. The four of you retrieved the white royalty pieces." Ozpin says. Luci looks up in confusion, wandering what team name they could have before realizing in disappointment. "From this day forward, you will work together as Team JADE."

"Damnit." Luci mutters under his breath.

"What's wrong?" Vak says. Judy sighs.

"He wanted that team name." She explains.

"… Jayce Chris." Ozpin declares as Luci starts paying attention again. Jayce bows to the audience, Apollo crosses his hands behind his back and nods slightly to his new leader while Dalos tries to jump at Jayce to give him a hug only to be stopped by Eyuno.

"So, that Jayce guy is the leader then?" Luci asks. "I didn't get a chance to see him fight in the forest." He mutters to himself.

"I wander what our team name will be." Vak says while other teams are being announced in the background. "V, J, D and A... what could that make?" Thinking about it, Luci doesn't know either.

"Vak Skye-" Ozpin begins. All four of them stand up, although Artemis seems deep in thought and takes a few seconds to catch on. "Judy Apelsin, Artemis Titana, Luci Glas." As soon as the words leave Ozpin's mouth, Luci gets a wash of dread run over him but continues to walk, a sickly look on his face. The others turn to him for a second, except Judy, but continue to walk. "The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work as Team JAVL (Javlin)." Luci looks even more disappointed than before, cringing at the sound of the team name. "Led by... Judy Apelsin." Ozpin continues, telling Luci and Vak what they already knew based on the name. Luci looks to her and smiles knowingly while Judy just looks at him in confusion, wandering why she was chosen. Vak gives her a pat on the back, trying to be friendly, while Artemis stares straight forwards at Ozpin, trying to look as smart as possible. Ozpin doesn't say anything to her like he did with a few of the other students, but Luci thinks that it's to be expected, they hadn't done anything too significant while they were in the forest. They walk back to their chairs, but they are the last team to be formed so they end up walking straight out anyway.

"Your name is Lucy?" Vak is the first one to say. Judy looks to him in worry before quickly becoming a stone wall again.

"Yes." Luci sighs out. "I thought I would be able to keep it hidden a bit longer."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Vak says, snickering.

"Because it's embarrassing. It sounds like a girl's name." Luci says, genuinely blushing for the first time in a while.

"Isn't it a girl's name?" Vak asks.

"No! It's spelled with an I. L, U, C, I." He spells out, slowly realizing he was yelling his own name in front of most of his new classmates. "Can we continue this later?" He whispers.

"I agree." Artemis says, voice full of contempt. "We will finish this when we get to our room."

They all remain silent until they get to their new room, where Artemis slams the door before turning to Luci. "I knew there was something off about you!" She yells.

"What do you mean?" Luci says, thinking back to the times they had properly spoken to each other.

"Don't play dumb! If you're really from Vale, then you must know the story!" Artemis grabs a nearby chair, sitting on it backwards to rest her head on the back. "The Midnight Demon." She says. Vak flops down in front of her, crossing his legs and waiting for her to continue. "Years ago, in the kingdom of Vale, there was a crime spree that was never solved. The people who witnessed these crimes were always spared but only if they did not interfere." Judy flops down as well, but she does it into a bed and falls asleep. "Swarms of bodies would be found in the day, some riddled with holes from a knife, others from a shotgun and some that are harder to explain. Every witness who saw these attacks in the night and lived to tell of it later all said that it was a boy with the stature of a child, although these crimes went on for years and the boy grew with each report."

"Are you going to-" Luci began.

"But one night, after a call had been made, the boy was interrupted in the act by a huntsman, Qrow Branwen." Artemis interrupts. "After a long fight, the boy ran away into the night, but not before giving his name to a curious Qrow. "Hey kid." He is reported to have said. "What's your name?" The boy hesitated before turning back to him. "You can call me Damien." Before disappearing into the night." She finishes, closing the book she is reading from.

"Why do you even have that?" Luci asks, pointing to the book.

"My brother gave it to me." She says. "He's always giving me books when he finishes reading them."

"That was a very interesting story." Vak states. "I've only really heard a little about Vale so hearing a bit more about its legends in quite intriguing, especially from such a fine storyteller."

Artemis smiles and nods. "I had forgotten about it until Apollo gave me this book, but now that I remember it more clearly it was theorized that the huntsman that caught him took him in. You went to Signal, right?"

"Yes, so?" Luci confirms cautiously.

"That's where Qrow teaches! It must be you!" Artemis exclaims. Vak and Luci look to each other, Luci knows she's right, but she jumped to a conclusion way too quickly to be taken seriously.

"But there are tons of students at Signal, also his name is Luci, not Damien." Vak says, pointing out what Luci was about to.

"Well... yeah... but-" Artemis stumbles.

"I'll accept your apology tomorrow, for now we should go to sleep." Luci says, pointing to the beds. "I'll take the bed next to Judy." He declares, walking over and placing his knife at the foot of the bed. Once he thinks they are all asleep, Luci reaches out his hand and grabs Judy's bag, bringing it over to him. "So, what's the report on everyone else."


	10. Chapter 9: First Morning

Chapter 9: First Morning

Artemis jumps up out of bed, quickly reaching for her bow before realizing it is at the foot of her bed and what she was reaching for instead was thin air, causing her to trip and slam her face into Vak's bed, which he had luckily already sat up in, reacting to the same noise as her. A loud ringing came from Judy's backpack, which suddenly changes to a buzz and then continues to change and get louder and louder. Luci and Judy continue to sleep through the variety of noises with vaguely irritated looks on their faces.

"What's going on!?" Artemis yells to Vak. He yells something back but she doesn't hear him, leading her to assume he can't hear her, so she tries yelling louder. "What-!?" She begins but he starts yelling at the same time.

"Nixi!" Vak yells at the top of his lungs and the noises stop immediately.

"What's Nixi!?" Artemis yells, still recovering from the noise.

"Judy only explained it briefly, but it's an AI in her backpack, I guess."

"What's an AI?"

"Artificial intelligence." Judy says, still half asleep, scratching the back of her head. "I was going to explain her to you yesterday but I guess I was more tired than I thought. She's an AI I created at Signal, after eight failed attempts, I created an intelligent computer to help manage my weapons and combat."

"Is that the N9 thing you were talking about yesterday? Doesn't that count as cheating, I mean, teams are only supposed to have four people." She questions.

"Maybe, but that depends how they define "people". If they find out and decide it's against the rules, they will be classifying Artificial intelligences as people, meaning that they will have to accept them as students as well, but if they decide it's fine then they will be classifying AIs as weapons and have to allow people to use AI in combat academies." Judy explains briefly. "Either way it would be much easier to keep her hidden unless we want to cause trouble for the headmaster."

"Okay, I guess." Artemis shrugs, not really understanding the politics. "What was that noise about though?"

"That's our alarm. I got used to the regular alarm sound so I asked N9 to play different sounds every few seconds to make sure it eventually wakes me up, Luci is the same." She explains, taking her scroll off the desk to check the time. "Eight thirty? That's way too early." She says, collapsing back onto her bed.

"Luci told me to wake you all up early so that you had time to prepare, and so that, quote, the crazy girl can apologize for her false accusation she made yesterday, end quote." Nixi explains before she can go back to sleep.

"Artemis, please apologize to him so I can go back to sleep." Judy says, covering her face with her arm.

"How do I do that if he's still asleep?" She asks. "Wait, no, that's not the problem! You, get up! And you, I'm not saying sorry for that!" She demands, pointing to them in turn. "Just because you're the leader, doesn't mean you can tell me what to do, you're supposed to organize us!"

"I was organizing you." Judy says, starting to fall asleep again. Artemis grabs Luci's arm and drags him out of bed and onto the floor. As soon as he hits the ground he jumps up, grabbing Artemis by the and tripping her over.

"Oh... sorry about that." He says, realizing what he did. "What's going on, I didn't hear the alarm."

"What the hell are you doing!?" Artemis yells as soon as she gets back up.

"Can you all stop shouting?" Judy says. "We have half an hour until class starts. What do we have first?"

"Grimm studies." Vak says, reading through some type of schedule. "And that's for most of the day, apparently." He says looking puzzled.

"They're probably going easy on us, since it's our first day and all." Luci suggests. "Would have probably been more helpful than sending us into a forest full of grimm yesterday though."

Artemis throws the curtains open, seeing that Judy is falling asleep again, and opens the window wide. "We need to start getting ready, now!" She orders. Judy covers her eyes and rolls out of bed onto the floor next to Nixi before Artemis pulls her to her feet. "Stop lazing around!" She yells, grabbing both of their uniforms and dragging Judy into the attached changing room on Judy and Luci's side of the room. "We'll use this room, I have to make sure she doesn't fall asleep and drown herself." She finishes, slamming the door behind them.

Vak looks to Luci, realizing he is still half asleep. "You know that if you don't get up, she will yell at you again." He says while grabbing his uniform and walking towards the room opposite to the girls. He looks back to see if Luci was listening but sees that he is already getting undressed and closes the door quickly behind him.

* * *

The first thing Judy sees when Artemis bursts through the classroom door is team JADE jump up out of their seats right in front of them. The room is laid out so that the students further back are higher up, and the closest to the double door, while there is a path leading down the middle of the room from the door to the front desk. "We made it." Artemis sighs, letting Judy through first.

"Well, well." The man at the front of the class, who Judy assumes to be the teacher, says while shaking his head. "As everyone else in the room knows, I am professor port. I will be teaching you grimm studies, or I would be if you had shown up on time." The portly man laughs, stopping when he realizes everyone else is silent. "Umm... you came at a perfect time however, I was just about to start telling the tale of my heroism and greatness! When I was a boy..." They take their seats at the back of the class, on the opposite side from team JADE, and take out their scrolls.

"Ten past nine! How did we end up ten minutes late?" Artemis whispers.

"Ignoring the directions we were given and walking around half the academy may have something to do with it." Luci says sarcastically.

"Don't blame me for that! At least I was trying to help!" Vak is sat between them, trying to focus on what Port is saying but not being able to hear a word, while Judy is sat on the end of the row next to Luci. She is about to go to sleep when she hears someone whispering to her left and turns to see Apollo across the path trying to pass her something that looks like a pamphlet. She reaches over and takes it just to see that it's the same schedule that Vak was reading over and passes it back, writing 'Artemis got us lost on the way here.' On the front of it. As soon as he sees this he bows his head in apology before turning back to the front of the class.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..." Professor Port continues, despite only a few people in the class still listening. Judy lifts her head at the sound of some loud laughter from the front of the room, looking over everyone she notices the team at the front but only recognizes one of the three laughing girls as one she thinks is Yang, by her bright blonde hair, a girl in the same classes as Luci at signal, and she recognizes the only girl not laughing by her distinct white hair, realizing that she's Weiss Schnee. Port makes a quick coughing noise and tries to continue but is interrupted straight away.

"You're the one acting like a child!" Artemis says, still in a whisper but loud enough to break through the silence created by Port's cough.

"Well then, it seems like none of you want to hear my heroic tale." He says in a pout. "This story could be a great help for all of you but if you think you have the traits of a true huntsman then please raise your hand." He challenges, expecting no-one to comply, but Weiss raises her hand instantly. He pauses for a moment but coughs and regains his composure. "Well then, step forwards and we'll soon find out."


	11. Chapter 10: First Blood

Chapter 10: First Blood

With her rapier in hand, Weiss stands at the front of the class, looking down at a small padlocked cage as it thrashes around violently. Luci hears the cheers and words of encouragement coming from her team. "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss yells to the girl on the end of the row, who Luci remembers is the leader of team RWBY from last night. Luci watches as the beast inside is suddenly freed without any warning when Professor Port swings the axe head of his blunderbuss down on the lock to reveal the small creature inside to be a boar looking grimm that Luci had never seen before. It charges at Weiss but she quickly readies her rapier and parries the blow, dodging to her right as she does.

"This is a boarbatusk." The professor begins as it prepares for another charge. Luci also hears cheers coming from the rest of her team but notices that Weiss keeps glaring at them instead of paying attention to the fight at hand. She charges as it does, only looking back at her team briefly but for long enough that the creature tilts its head without her noticing, hooking it's tusks around her rapier and swinging it's head to throw her across the room. He sees that their team's leader, Ruby, stands up quickly but is sat back down by Weiss' icy glare. The boar suddenly charges at her, much faster than before, and Weiss doesn't see it in time, dodging out of the way enough that it doesn't cause any major damage but still hitting her leg against one of its tusks as she rolls out of the way, causing it to smack into the row of desks her team are sat at. Weiss runs towards her sword, which the grimm had thrown to the other side of the room, and gets it just in time to block another charge, pushing her back a few feet. "boarbatusks build up speed as they fight." The professor continues. "They start off the fight slow but when a fight lasts this long..." He stops, seeing the boarbatusk jump in the air and curl into a ball and begins spinning before hitting the ground and launching itself forwards. "Now, boarbatusks have a fatal weakness, does anyone know what that is?"

"Go for the belly! There's-!" Ruby begins.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss yells back, looking away for long enough that the grimm slams into her stomach and launches her against the wall. It jumps up again and spins, launching higher this time aiming for her head but Weiss ducks down in time, creating some kind of symbol underneath herself and launching herself up as it hits the wall behind her, stabbing straight through it before they both plummet to the ground.

"Impressive, miss Schnee." Port praises. "You lost most of your aura but as long as you didn't lose all of it, that's a pass. Congratulations. Please, retake your seat, we still have time for one more exercise, any volunteers?" Port waits a few seconds before pointing up to Judy, looking through the attendance sheet quickly. "Miss... Apelsin, is it?"

"Y-yes?" She replies, confused.

"As the leader of team Javelin, it is your duty to keep your team in order. Since your team was late, I will allow you the chance to prove yourself to the class. Grab your weapon and come to the front." Judy reaches down and picks up Nixi in a huff, throwing her over her shoulder and standing up. "You don't need your bag to fight, miss Apelsin."

"This is my weapon." She replies dryly.

"Then what are those pistols for?" He says, pointing to her waist.

"Those are my backup weapons."

"Well then, since this is a training session, let's make it an emergency simulation. You won't always have your backpack with you, you'll have to make do with your 'backups'." He says, pointing to Nixi. "Put it back." Judy sighs but complies, muttering the usual rebellious phrases Luci is used to, and makes her way to the front. "Now, thanks to yesterday's outing into Emerald Forest, I have a few live grimm. Since this is an emergency simulation, let's make it..." Port ponders for a moment. "Beowolf." He announces, opening a door at the back of the room and dragging out a much larger cage than before with a much stronger lock. "Beowolves used to occupy the Emerald Forest but were driven out while the academy was being established." He says, positioning the cage in front of Judy. "Since you use ranged weaponry much more than miss Schnee, I will have to activate the forcefield to protect the rest of the class." He says, pressing a button under his desk, creating the invisible shield locking Judy, the beowolf and himself on one side of the room, which Judy finds strangely calming. Port looks to Judy to see if she's paying attention, seeing that she is staring down at her revolvers, he swings his axe down on the cage door, taking it off its hinges entirely as the grimm breaks its way out, shooting the door across the room as it pounces.

Judy reacts fast, pulling her guns' shields out to protect her vital areas, one for her face and one for her stomach, and beginning to fire blindly at where she thinks it is. She peaks through the crack between her shields to see if she hit it but is surprised by a large claw suddenly jabbing through, which would have stabbed her straight in the face if she didn't have her aura activated, pushing her back as she reflexively jumps to make distance, hitting the wall behind her without realizing. She looks forwards fast enough to see the claws flying towards her as the grimm charges forwards. She dodges to the left as the claws stab through the wall and tries to fire, only now realizing that she had expended it all in her first attack. She reaches into her pocket to grab her ammo, grabbing it just in time to get smacked back across the room, dropping her left gun as a few bullets come loose of her speed-loaders and scatter across the floor. She manages to keep hold of the two speed-loaders she had in her hand and quickly swings open the cylinder of her remaining weapon, launching out the cases and reloading as quickly as possible before taking aim again. She looks over and sees the grimm slam itself into the forcefield protecting the rest of the class. She fires at its head but hits its outer skull, cracking it down the side but not hitting it hard enough to kill it. It turns back to her and immediately lunges forwards, throwing Judy off and causing her to step back, stepping on one of the cases and managing to stay balanced, trying to block the beowolf's bite. The grimm's right claws suddenly clasp around her gun as it moves around it and clamps its jaws down on her arm, breaking her aura and drawing blood. The pain gives Judy an adrenaline rush and she grabs the creatures lower jaw and tries to pry it off. Everything suddenly goes dark around her and all she can see it the grimm and her own blood. He eyes begin to tear up and her lips begin to quiver, trying to push back but knowing that it is useless, that she can't win alone, and she surrenders to her fate, knowing well that this isn't the same situation she sees in her head but not being able to hold back the flood of emotion that memory brings up. The darkness around her is suddenly dispersed by a blinding light explosion as the it's jaws suddenly loosen. Judy looks back at it, only now realizing that she had her eyes shut since the bite, to see the grimm, already beginning to dissolve, with most of its left side missing as smoke rises from Port's blunderbuss.

"Someone, go get the nurse!" Port yells to the class, not deactivating the forcefield as Luci stands just behind it, shouting something that Judy can't hear very well. Judy looks up and sees the light on the ceiling above her before slowly beginning to close her eyes.

* * *

Luci stares down at the medic-bay floor, trying to keep himself awake as the crescent moon reaches its peak. Judy's wound has already healed, to the rest of the team's surprise, but she still hasn't woken up, and Luci thinks he knows why.

"Are you still here?" A girl's voice says. Artemis walks around the curtain, having already changed into her sleepwear, with a candle in her hand. "Vak said he was going to get us some drinks."

"We aren't allowed drinks in here." He replies dryly.

"I didn't take you for someone who follows the rules." She responds, taking a nearby chair and sitting with him. "You guys know each other pretty well, huh?" She says, trying to start a conversation. Luci sighs but talks anyway.

"We haven't actually known each other very long, only about a year, and for the first half of that she hated me." He mumbles, more for himself than for her to hear. "We had a fight when I first came to Signal Academy, but other than that we didn't see each other at all until the end of her third year."

"What were you fighting about?"

"I was challenging people to fight on the first day so she came to stop me, being a second year and all. At her graduation, we had a fight again, but... I won this time." He says, pausing for a second.

"You don't-"

"Nah, it's fine." He says with a little smile. "I injured her pretty bad, shot her leg off." At this, Artemis' eyes open wide.

"But she-"

"She's a faunus, axolotl or something, she can grow back limbs." He explains as quickly as possible. "It took her a good part of the year to grow it back so I went to visit her every day in the hospital." Taking out a picture and handing it to Artemis. She looks at it and sees Luci sitting at the bottom of a hospital bed with Judy standing up, looking unstable, as Luci holds out his arm towards her.


	12. Chapter 11: Times Passed

Chapter 11: Times Passed

I walked into the hospital room, flowers in my hand, before being stopped in my tracks. I looked around the room as Judy looked out of the window but there was no-one in the room with her, no classmates, no family, no-one. I don't know if she was ignoring me or hadn't noticed me yet, I've never asked, but either way she didn't say anything to me at all, even when I tried to talk to her. I ended up leaving the flowers in a pot I had brought with me and said. "See you tomorrow." Before walking home.

The next few days were the same, but after a week had passed she finally said something to me. "Don't second years still have classes." She asked, still not looking my way.

I was surprised but answered anyway. "Do you think they would let me handle weapons after that?" I replied, as unsarcastically as possible. She didn't reply with words but just gave a quick nod, I think to agree with the outcome. When we finally started talking, it was in a different tone than when we fought. She wasn't scared of me, the opposite in fact, she was distant, almost like she wasn't involved in the conversation at all. When I asked if she had forgiven me, she went silent and looked out of the window, when I spoke about myself, I could tell she didn't care, for the rest of that month, I was more annoyed than I was upset.

At the end of that month, I was about ready to leave and not come back, but on that last day, she turned to me properly and asked a question I didn't expect. "Would you put up with this if I wasn't a faunus?" She asked. I didn't really understand the question, if I had caused a human to lose their leg then I would probably still visit them, although they would probably be more angry considering they wouldn't grow it back. I turned back to her but couldn't get any words out in my confusion, but I guess I got the question across. "No-one really spoke to me at Signal but the few who did were always really nice to me, no matter what I did. I think that people are too afraid of talking to me, or any of the faunus at Signal. So, are you visiting me because you feel sorry for me, or because you feel bad about our history." I saw a seriousness in her eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time, but I couldn't help but laugh. She seemed surprised as I burst into laughter right in front of her, trying to get my point across.

"I've been through enough to know that anyone can face hardship." I said as my laughter died down. "There will always be humans against faunus and there will always be faunus against humans, your problems are your own, just like mine are mine." I explained. "I think you got the wrong idea about me so let's start again. Hi, I'm Damien Glas, what's your name gills?" I said, sticking out my hand and trying to make my widest smile.

She tried to correct me but understood what I was trying to do and took my hand. "Judy Apelsin, and I thought you were Luci." I was still annoyed that she knew my name but I ignored it and we began to talk.

When the new school year rolled around, Qrow came to visit her with me. He told us about how since he was supposed to be supervising the... incident, he was given leave, but he told us he was quitting teaching for a while. "I was never really that good at it." He said. "Some more bad news is, you won't be ready in time for Beacon this year." He said, pointing to Judy, still with his flask in his hand.

I tried to argue but Judy interrupted me, just saying that she saw it coming and was expecting it. "I don't think I'm cut out to be a huntress." She said, rolling back into bed. "I'm too frail, plus my semblance isn't exactly made for fighting."

"Why? What's your semblance?" I asked. "I have my luck, that could be considered not useful in combat if I have a string of bad luck in the middle of a fight."

"I can analyze." She says plainly. "Things and people. It isn't always accurate but it still helps me tell what's happening. For example, I could tell your semblance before because I analyzed you while you were using it, so now I can tell quite a lot about it. It isn't passive but instead you activate your own luck, but it's a game of chance, you will either get lucky or unlucky, it isn't perfect but it's better in a fight than mine."

"You can tell that?" I asked. "What about Qrow? I've never seen him use his aura."

"Let's not get hasty, kids." He says, leaning against the door.

"I've tried analyzing him, but as I said it isn't perfect. It goes off what I already know and adds what I can infer from them. I can tell when someone's semblance is active and I can observe what happens. Watching you, my gun jammed when you activated your semblance, but also in our first fight you activated it and ended up stumbling, which is why I won so easily." She explained. "Qrow... every time I analyze him, it seems that his semblance is active, so I assume it is passive, but I can't tell what it is exactly, although I feel it is similar to yours in some way." She says, looking confused. "Passive semblances are much harder for me to figure out, since they are always active it is hard to tell what is being effected by them."

"See? That can help in a fight!" Luci says. "There are times when I've fought and wanted to know my opponent's semblance, that would be a huge advantage in a fight."

"You think so?"

"Of course! You shouldn't let them keep you from being a huntress!" I stopped when I saw Judy tearing up.

"But... what will I do? Unless I'm scouted, I'll have to sign up a few months in advance, and I can barely even get out of bed still."

I consider not dragging this out longer, but I've never been one for holding back. "I'll go sign us both up for next year! I doubt they'll let me in after all that's happened but they have to let you in at least."

"Before you kids do any crazy..." Qrow interjects, pulling something out of his pocket. "I was going to wait to give these to you but I guess you should have them now." He says, showing them two envelopes and handing them to me before turning to walk out of the door. "I haven't read them so I don't know the results, part of my code of conduct." He said with a snicker. "Can't be in the room when you open them either, for personal reasons, just call me back in when you're done." He finished, shutting the door behind him. I looked at them and saw that one had my name and the other had Judy's, so handed hers over. We both knew what they were so we didn't feel the need to talk about them and just went to open them.

"No using your luck." She said just before I opened it.

"That wouldn't do much now anyway, the results are already there." I replied sarcastically. I looked down at the paper and the first thing I saw was 'We are glad to inform you...' and immediately after I saw the word 'accepted...' And showed it to Judy. I noticed she was already crying so I turned my paper back around, ready to tell her I hadn't made it in when she turned hers to me at show the exact same letter with her name instead. We didn't have a massive celebration, partly because of Judy's leg and partly because Judy can't really handle people anyway, but we did get Qrow to take this picture of us when Judy tried to get up to thank him.

* * *

"What about her family?" Artemis asks.

"What do you mean?" Luci responds, taking back the picture he gave to her.

"You said that you were the only one she saw most of the time, but what about her family? Didn't they ever visit?" She continues to ask. Luci stays silent for a second but turns to her with a much less serious expression.

"She won't tell me."

"What? I got the impression you two told each other everything."

"Nobody tells anyone everything." He says bluntly. "Like that story. I didn't tell you everything, just what I thought you needed to hear to understand, me and Judy think alike in that sense." He looks down at Judy, still not waking up. "You don't have to stay here with me, I'm going to be here all night."

"You're not allowed to be here all night." Artemis replies, leaning back in her chair.

"I didn't take you for someone who follows the rules." He replies sarcastically.

"I didn't say I was. It's just a warning that you aren't going to get me to take blame if we get caught." She continues. He looks over to her with a look of confusion mixed with cheer. "Don't look at me like that. I don't like you, and she is a terrible leader, that's why I need to make sure you don't get all of us in trouble." As soon as she finished, Vak walks in carrying two drinks with two more being carried by Nixi.

"I think I got all of the right drinks." Vak says as he enters. "Two 'Grapes' sodas for the ladies..."

"It's 'People Like Grapes' soda." Artemis corrects.

"I'm not calling it that." He says, ignoring her complaint. "One 'Ol' King Cold' for me."

"You say the full name of that one!" She interrupts again.

"What would you shorten it to?"

"'Cold' soda, Obviously! Or even 'King Cold' soda! The 'Ol'' doesn't add anything." Artemis complains.

"Whatever." He replies, shrugging her off. "And one TorchQuick for Luci."

"That's not what I asked for." Luci says, taking the drink anyway as Vak sits down on the floor, hanging Nixi on the foot of the bed.

"I asked and they said they couldn't serve alcohol to minors." Vak says with a long sigh. "I didn't even expect they would have alcohol in storage but apparently they do, and you can't have any. Nixi said this is your favorite soda so that's what I got, drink up." Luci sighs, opening the can and chugging most of it down at once.

"How can you even drink that stuff?" Artemis says. "It tastes horrible."

"Exactly, it's also a challenge." Luci says. "Something that tastes this bad had to have been done on purpose, so all I need to do is overcome the taste and I'll become stronger."

"I'm not sure if you're taking this too seriously or not seriously enough." She replies. Vak snickers at her remark and she gets confused. "What's funny?"

"I don't think I've seen you smile since we became a team." He explains. "I guess... you know... it's kind of funny that this situation got you to lighten up a bit." Artemis only now realizes that she had been smiling for a while and tries to go back to doing her usual scowl and the other two laugh at her as the crescent moon begins to set.

her.


	13. Chapter 12: The Brown Rabbit

Chapter 12: The Brown Rabbit

Team JADE walk into the classroom and the first thing they notice is team JAVL sitting at the same desk as yesterday, although this time twenty minutes early. They look around and notice that they are the first eight here, although Port is already at the front of the class. Judy is still tired, partly from her recovery but mostly from having to be in the same room with so many people yesterday. Port looks up at them but doesn't say anything, simply going back to reading some papers.

"You guys are early." Dalos says, ending up on the opposite end of the desk to Judy without them noticing. "Were you worried about getting in trouble again?"

"Not really." Luci retorts. "We would have probably gotten here at this time yesterday if we didn't get lost." Artemis scoots away from him slightly as he puts his feet up and begins to mess around.

"Dalos, get back over here." Eyuno demands bluntly, sitting down at the third chair. "You can't sit with another team, we have to stick together." Dalos suddenly disappears and reappears in the seat next to her, which she doesn't react to in the slightest.

"Speaking of which, you're pretty early yourselves." Vak points out.

Jayce turns to them after leaning his weapon against the back wall. "You can thank the judge for that." He says, nodding to Eyuno.

"We have to be punctual or we'll get in trouble, I hope you learned that lesson as well." She replies to Vak. "We aren't at any school, this is a combat academy. If you can't stick with the program, you're not going to see the new year, you best remember that."

"That's... a bit harsh, don't you think?" Vak responds.

She sighs out a quick reply, not wanting to continue. "Take it to heart then. I don't want something like that to happen but I'm the only one who's going to point out the obvious. The rules are there for a reason, there's a good explanation for why the timetable is as it is, the teachers will do their best to keep us safe and help us learn. If you want to keep your sanity, accept these statements as fact and follow them." There is a brief moment of silence before it is rudely broke.

"So, I just had a look at the papers on Port's desk..." Dalos says, appearing back in his seat after no-one noticed his absence.

"I told you not to get in trouble!" She says in a hushed voice.

"We won't, just listen." He says, almost panicked. "They're bringing in a second year as a class assistant."

"And the problem is?"

"What do you mean?! If there are two pairs of eyes, it's more likely we'll get caught messing around!"

"You're the one messing around!"

"Be quiet." Apollo says. "Professor Port's going to hear you."

"So, what? Class hasn't started yet." Dalos points out. Luci looks at the clock and notices that they still have a few minutes left. Some of the other students stream in, although most of them only get in at the last minute.

"Good! It looks like everyone is here." Professor Port begins. "Now, I know yesterday's lesson ended rather... abruptly... but we will continue to learn more about the grimm, starting from the top." He begins, being interrupted by a knocking at the door. "Ah yes, but first, I would like to introduce you to your class mentor. Come on in!" He yells up to the door. Luci expects the double doors to swing open after that introduction but instead one of the doors opens a crack and a timid voice comes through.

"Hello? Is this the year one's grimm studies class?" The voice says.

"Yes, yes, come on in!" Port replies. The door creaks open slightly more until someone slips through the crack, shutting it slowly behind them. Luci looks over them but doesn't see anything that he envisioned when he heard about a second year, he especially didn't predict the ears. A couple of his classmates start to mutter among themselves, a few like Dalos and Eyuno talk excitedly, now that Dalos knows she's a faunus, but most mutter in confusion. "Would you like to introduce yourself."

"Hello! My name is Velvet Scarlatina! I am a second year in team Coffee spelled CFVY! I have been nominated to help mentor you as a representative of my team! Let's get along together with you!" She blurts out all at once, going red with embarrassment. The muttering in the class dies down replaced by an awkward silence that even Luci can feel. He takes his scroll out of his trench coat pocket, that he's wearing over his uniform, and quickly takes a picture of her, making sure to get her rabbit ears in.

"She hasn't got her weapon on her..." Luci mumbles to himself, looking over to Judy, who's eyes are wide open and looking directly at her. Luci assumes she's doing her analyzing thing and turns back to the front.

"Th-thank you, miss Scarlatina." Port says, looking around the room. "Why don't you take a seat..." He stalls, seeing space at the back of the room but not much anywhere else. "At the back of the class." He sighs. Velvet begins to walk back up the steps, trying to decide which side to sit on since there is a lot of space on both sides.

"Over here!" Dalos yells to her, waving frantically and indicating to the seat next to him before being pulled back down to his own by Eyuno grabbing him by the collar. Judy looks up, seeing her standing between the desks. She nudges Luci, mouthing to him to move over, and he does the same down the line. Judy taps her on the arm, waiting for her to turn around before moving over herself, tapping the desk. Velvet looks between the two teams, not sure which seat to take, before Luci speaks up for them.

"You'll be able to see more if you sit in the middle row." He points out, being the final thing Velvet needs to hear for her to sit down next to Judy, with Dalos begrudgingly accepting, knowing that he will be able to sneak over whenever he wants anyway. As soon as she sits down, Judy eyes her all over, looking for her weapon, before noticing some type of box strapped to her waist.

"Are you okay?" She asks after being stared at for almost a minute as the lecture continues. Judy is shot back into reality by this and doesn't manage to keep her cool, like she knows Luci would.

"Is that your weapon?" She asks suddenly, pointing to the box before pulling her hand away just as suddenly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want."

"Umm... why do you think that?" She replies nervously.

"I umm... well..." Judy stalls, considering telling her about her own weapon so she reveals more about hers. "I couldn't see a weapon on you except that..." She says, grabbing one of her guns. "These two are simple, so I was just wandering what yours is like." Velvet sighs, taking off the box and placing it on her lap.

"I shouldn't really show you this, Coco wants me to keep it a surprise until the tournament." She whispers, taking out a camera. "Have you heard of hard-light?"

"What's-" Judy begins, being interrupted quickly.

"Miss Apelsin." Professor Port interrupts. "This lesson is very important. Information about certain grimm will be on the test as well as helping you in the field. I would suggest you, especially, pay attention, miss Apelsin." He says, pointing to one of the whiteboards at the front of the class showing a drawing of something but Judy can't tell what it is. There are six boards lining the wall with drawings on them but Judy can't really tell what any of them are of. "This lesson was going to be about the King Taijitu but, due to yesterday's incident, we will start with the beowolf." He says, pointing to the third board from the left. "Beowolves are the most common type of grimm in Vale and Mistral, as they usually inhabit forests and woodlands, making them quite rare in Atlas and Vacuo, because of their harsh climates. They mostly travel in packs and are extremely aggressive when something enters their territory, whether that be man or mouse, this makes them more dangerous than some bigger grimm as they can quickly outnumber a single huntsman." The lesson continues, Luci paying particular attention, while Judy tries and fails to stay awake, waking herself up as her head hits the desk until Luci puts his hand on it so it doesn't hurt as much and she drifts off.

* * *

"Is she gunna be alright?" Artemis says, taking a bite out of her sandwich. "She's been asleep all day."

"Don't speak with your mouth full." Luci responds, grabbing Judy's shoulder as she begins to fall over. "And she's fine, she has days like this."

"So... I've been meaning to ask." Vak speaks up. "Why does she do that?"

Luci sighs, knowing that it was coming but not wanting to go through the trouble of explaining it again. "I already told you she's not a people person. For her, it takes energy just being in the same room as people she doesn't know too well, let alone talking to them. She'll wake up once she has the energy to."

"But she didn't seem that way in Emerald Forrest." Vak says. "And she met team JADE with me."

"She works better in that situation. She knew she was on a time limit and probably didn't want to let you down. If I was there, she probably would have started to fall asleep at some point." Luci looks over Vak, seeing a large pair of rabbit ears, before waving their owner over to them. As soon as Velvet sees them, she begins to walk over, slightly happier than she did a second before, until she bumps into someone and falls over, dropping the food she had only just got from the buffet onto herself.

"Watch where you're going." The orange haired boy that bumped into her says before she has the chance to apologize, walking off and only turning back to mumble at her. "Filthy faunus." Velvet begins to pick up what she can salvage, realizing the milk she got had broken open, and putting what she thinks she can salvage back onto her tray as some of the others in the cafeteria laugh, including the boy she bumped into and the people with him.

"Nixi, who're they?" Luci asks.

"How much detail do you want?" Nixi responds, sticking out her camera to look who he's talking about.

"Just the basics."

"Team CRDL (cardinal), leader, Cardin Winchester, other members, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark, they are all in the same class as you. Other than that, all I know is what I've heard from overhearing some of the people around the academy. They are fairly infamous for getting on people's nerves, only minor offences so that authorities haven't found a need to speak up or do anything about it. I can try to listen for more information about them from now on, if you want, but other than that, everything else is just speculation."

"That's plenty, thanks." Luci says, tapping the top of the camera before it retreats into the bag. Artemis and Vak look to him questioningly while Velvet sits down next to Judy with a new milk box, not seeing what just happened. "I might have some fun with him."

* * *

 _Since this is the latest chapter I've written, I'm going to start leaving some updates at the end of these in this format._

 _If you have any feedback then it's always welcome. I'm going to continue on till at least the end of volume 1's story arc, although the story is going to be changed slightly and focus more on my OCs and a few select characters. I'll probably take a bit of a break after volume 1 but from this point on, I'll upload new chapters whenever they're finished unlike chapters 1-11, including the intro chapters, which I already finished before I started uploading them here. Please, stick around, the best is yet to come._


	14. Chapter 13: Tricksters' Duel

Chapter 13: Tricksters' Duel

Luci looks down at the small arena and sees that the training had already started. He sneaks in and takes his seat at the back of the class next to Judy, making sure no-one notices him. "Anything good?" He asks to the other three while he looks over everyone else in class to see who's fighting.

"No..." Judy says, not taking her eyes off the fight.

"Why?" Artemis asks. "What fight are you waiting for?"

"Nothing really. Just any good fight." He replies, looking again and finally being able to figure out who's fighting. He sees the sword, shield and blonde hair of one of the classmates he doesn't really care about but remembers he's called Jaune, since he's close to one of his main subjects, Pyrrha Nikos, and the large mace of the other fighter, showing him that it is Cardin Winchester. Cardin makes a mocking gesture and Luci looks up at the scoreboard to see that Jaune's aura is almost completely depleted whereas Cardin's is basically unaffected. "He's going to lose." He thinks out loud.

"Obviously." Vak says. "I haven't seen him check his aura this entire fight, or land a hit, or block a hit properly, or-" He continues before being cut off at the sound of Jaune's getting slammed to the floor by Cardin's mace and the end buzzer going off. Glynda Goodwitch walks onto the arena to stop the combat before it gets out of hand, giving Jaune a speech Luci doesn't really listen to but he begins to listen once he hears his own name.

"And Luci Glas." She says calmly, looking directly at him. "You must pay attention during these combat classes, this is not a free period, you cannot leave the class whenever you want."

"I forgot my knife!" He shouts down to her, waving it in the air as the two combatants get back to their seats, inciting a few giggles from the class, including from Artemis and Vak, but only a sigh from Goodwitch.

"You're going to have to start taking this more seriously if you want to get the higher grades, especially in my classes." She says, swiftly moving on. "We will have one more randomized duel before moving on." She says, tapping on her tablet and changing the screen above the auditorium stage, which they use as a practice arena, to the standard randomization screen as the virtual combatant wheels start spinning. The randomization wheel is set to teams rather than people, leaving the teams to select what member would participate in the duel. This wasn't officially a big deal but for the students it meant one of two things, it either gave you a chance to practice, analyze your opponent's moves while improving your own, or representing your team for the rest of the class to show off your skills and prove yourself, for Luci it was a mix of both, although he didn't feel like participating much, plus most of the time it comes down to team leader verses team leader. Every time Luci sees the wheels spin he expects them to slow down before they stop but is shocked when the spinning suddenly ends, showing the acronym JADE as the first team as Luci begins to hear chattering and planning from his left, coming from said team. He looks up again to notice the second wheel has already stopped, showing their opponents with the acronym JAVL, causing their chattering to stop as they look over to them. "It has been decided. Team JADE verses team JAVL. Choose your representatives and send them down, you have five minutes." Goodwitch finishes, walking off the stage again and turning down the lights so that the only thing they could see from the stands was the stage.

"She really likes to make this dramatic." Jayce says to himself, looking over to Luci, since they were both sat at the ends of their rows. "Who are you guys going to pick?"

"Not sure, you probably want to ask Judy." He replied bluntly. Thanks to his luck, JAVL had only been chosen once or twice since the combat practice started last week, but he hadn't activated it this time since he was a bit distracted.

"Well then..." Jayce begins. "I would like to see how you fight, if you don't mind."

"Are you sure?" He asks. "I'll have an advantage since your mortar is better for outdoor combat, it seems a bit unfair."

Jayce looks confuse for a second but then realizes what happened and laughs to himself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fight me, I'm not allowed to participate due to the nature of my weapon, that was my bad, I worded it badly." Thinking back on it, Luci realizes that every time JADE has been selected, someone other than Jayce had fought, usually Apollo. "I just wanted to see you fight, I notice that you've been letting Vak do most of the fighting for your team, but if you fight then I'll make sure we pick someone who'll give you a good fight, I know that's what you want." Luci notices that the rest of the teams are looking their way.

"One minute." Goodwitch informs them, Luci looks down to her and a lot of the other students look away to avoid his gaze.

"Fine." He whispers, standing up and walking to the back of the class. He looks back to team JADE and notices that none of them have stood up yet.

"We'll make it a surprise for you." Jayce tells him, waving him off. Luci decides to comply, with the promise of a good fight and the pressure of the rest of the class, he doesn't really have much of a choice.

"You guys mind?" He asks the rest of the team. Vak had already stood up ready but gives a quick thumbs up, getting over his surprise and sitting back down. Judy looks up to him in worry but he ignores her and begins to walk around the back of the class right of the class, going down the curving slope towards the right of the stage. Questions rush through his head, trying to plan a strategy for whichever member they pick. If it's Apollo or Eyuno then he could probably afford to show off a little but he hasn't seen enough of Dalos' fighting style to piece together a good strategy, so he would probably have to stay on guard the whole fight. Thanks to the darkness, the only think he can see now is the light as it reaches the stage and the tops of his steps. He pulls out his knife, deciding to keep his hollow arm on, since most of his classmates still don't know about his hidden weapon. Every member of JADE already knows about it so he couldn't use it to surprise them but they might try to use it against him if they think he's trying to hide it. He reaches the stage, seeing the starting area outlined by a line of red lights which turn green as he steps into it. He looks up to see who his opponent is but they haven't got there yet, even if it was Dalos being invisible, the starting area lights would give him away.

"Twenty seconds." Goodwitch continues, showing Luci on the screen as the right combatant while leaving the left as a question mark. Luci looks down at his knife, the same knife he used in his last duel against Judy two years before. He's had other fights with her since then but they hadn't been as serious and had usually been done in private to not draw attention. He didn't want a repeat of that but he didn't want to lose either, they haven't lost a duel yet and he doesn't want to let the rest of them down. He looks up to see if they are watching, forgetting that the audience lights are dimmed so that the fighters can pay attention, but sees the red lights turn green in the corner of his eye. He darts his head back to see, basically what he expected, nothing in the green circle. "Mister Guile, you cannot be using your semblance before the duel starts." She warns and Dalos appears in the middle of the green circle.

"But that ruins the surprise!" Dalos complains.

"I already knew it was you." Luci points out, putting his left foot forwards and pointing his knife at his opponent. The timer starts, showing on both their scrolls, which Luci attaches to the underside of his false left hand, but it also shows for the audience on the big screen which the combatants can't see. Luci goes to look at the timer when the buzzer goes off, beginning the duel.

Luci flips his knife instantly, holding it near the tip of the blade and pointing the handle at Dalos, pressing the trigger as soon as it's in position. Dalos dodges left but Luci dodges with him, getting a few hits in with his gun before flipping it again and trying to rush him before he disappears. Luci expected this but hasn't figured out how to get around it yet, opting for watching the floor for any sudden movements. He gets into a guarding stance, covering most of his face with his left arm and holding his knife reversed to have more grip if he has to block. Before he knows it, he's struck from behind and sent flying forwards, only just stopping himself from falling off the stage. He begins running back towards the center and sees movement in the corner of his eye, quickly readying his gun to shoot again before the object he sees suddenly disappears again. He stops and gets lower to the ground, quickly checking his aura on his scroll and seeing that the hit didn't do much damage. He looks towards the center, expecting a hit to come soon, but instead seeing an impact on the ground at the center circle before Dalos suddenly appears there, suddenly disappearing again once he sees Luci.

He has no idea where Dalos is or what he's planning but he decides that getting to the middle of the stage will help him from falling off the stage and begins the dash over. Half way there he crashes into something and assumes it's Dalos. He swipes at the area wildly, feeling that he's hit him at least twice before his opponent suddenly appears there and blocks his next few attacks before kicking Luci away. Luci gets his footing quickly and begins to fire again, but he isn't completely balanced so he accidentally hits the floor with most of the shots and runs out of ammo once he gets to Dalos' feet. Dalos turns invisible again but Luci sees dust moving around where he was this time. He quickly reloads, taking the bottom of the knife handle out and quickly putting another magazine in before shutting it and aiming the gun at the floor. "I've got you now." He says before firing randomly at the floor around him, covering the stage in a layer of dust from the broken floor. He sees it moving slightly and dashes towards it, throwing his left arm forward to wrap it around where he assumed Dalos is but catches nothing, being kicked from below and up into the air. Looking down, he sees Dalos again before he quickly dashes off and is gone again. He hears a beeping noise and remembers from their first lesson that that means they have thirty seconds left. From how many times he's been hit, he assumes he's lost the most aura at the moment, if he wants to win, he might have to do something drastic, but he doesn't know if it's worth going all out. He sees the dust moving around but it's too quick to try to land on him. He tries to land hard to kick up dust to see if he could get some stuck on Dalos but notices that some of the dust in the air suddenly disappears. Assuming that it hit Dalos, he runs towards it before seeing some dust kick up again to his right and dodges just in time to feel that air off the blade swipe above his head. A beep starts to sound every second, counting down from ten. Luci sees dust kick up and sees it as his final chance. He throws his knife in front of it, hoping it would shock him enough to stop him so he could get a hit in, but instead the knife gets thrown out of the ground, like it had been kicked, and the dust ahead of it kicks up a lot slower than before. Luci takes the chance and jumps forwards, throwing the hardest right jab he could, hitting something before hearing something land off the stage.

* * *

 _Sorry about not updating in a week, I was away on holiday and didn't have any way of typing it up. Just finished this so I hope you like it, it was a complicated scene to write and ended up being one of the longest chapters so far. Hope you enjoy._


	15. Chapter 14: From Experience

Chapter 14: From Experience

The buzzer rings out and the lights come back on, hurting Judy's eyes but allowing her to see a bit better. She sees Glynda walking onto the stage as Dalos gets up off the floor, now completely visible, and walks back towards the steps to the audience area. "Well done, mister Glas." Glynda says nonchalantly. "Win by ring out, although you would have won through aura percentage if you let the time run out." She continues. Luci looks up, now being able to see the display overhead showing both their aura's and sighing. "Although I would appreciate it if you didn't ruin the stage, other students need to use it and it takes a lot of energy to repair." She says, taking out her riding crop and quickly waving it around as all the dust from the broken arena gathers and begins to fill in all the bullet holes in the floor. "You can't be so reckless in real combat, if you want to be a huntsman then you will have to play the part. Now, go take your seat." She says as Luci begins to walk away. Judy notices that the rest of the class is quite quiet, although Cardin and his crew are still as loud as ever. She assumes it's because neither of them is really know by the class very well, since Dalos is invisible most of the time and Luci doesn't talk to people in class much, so they probably didn't really care about the fight much to begin with, much like Jaune and Cardin's duel. As Luci gets to his seat, the door behind them shuts, which may have gone unnoticed if there was some more noise. Everyone turns to look who it is and no-one is very surprised.

"S-sorry I'm late!" Velvet yells down to Glynda. "I had to-!"

"You told me this morning that you had to organize something concerning your team, there's no need to apologize." She replies dryly. "Please, take your seat." Velvet quietly sneaks over to the row JAVL is on and passes in front of them to sit next to Vak. "We will now move on to the challenges. If you have anyone you want to challenge to a duel then raise your ha-" Glynda continues, being quickly interrupted by Judy's hand shooting up. "Miss Apelsin, are you sure?"

"Yes." She says, standing up and beginning to walk past Luci.

"Miss Scarlatina?" Glynda sighs out. Velvet stands and nods her head, beginning to walk down the opposite slope to Judy.

"Miss Apelsin, you've already challenged Miss Scarlatina every lesson this week, she isn't here just to duel you."

"I-it's fine." Velvet says. "I don't mind." She says as they both approach the stage.

"Okay then." Glynda says. "Ready?" Both combatants nod as the lights dim down again. Just as the buzzed goes off, the door to the room bursts open and light floods in, ruining the atmosphere. Judy and Velvet look to each other and pause so Glynda plays the end buzzer. "Sorry sir, we are in the middle of a duel, can your business wait?" She asks, as professional as always.

"Oh, don't mind me." Ozpin begins. "I will be out of your hair momentarily. I simply need to borrow one of your students for the rest of the lesson." He explains, looking to Luci. Glynda just nods back and signals to start the duel again. Judy can't hear what Ozpin is saying but she can briefly see him talking to Luci before they both leave the room, leaving the seating in darkness once again.

"Are... are you ready?" Velvet asks, Judy nods back and pulls out her guns. Velvet begins to hop lightly on the spot before going left and right, waiting for Judy to make the first strike. She takes her stance, aiming one gun at Velvet's head and the other at her leg.

"Now." Judy whispers and two of N9's arms shoot out of the sides of the backpack, both with small spikes on the end. The arms stab into the floor in front of her and pull her forwards before breaking the spikes off, launching her towards Velvet as she activates the shield function of her revolvers and beginning to spin to catch Velvet with the point of one of the shields. As soon as Velvet is close enough, two other arms shoot out of the backpack and one tries to strike Velvet's body while the other plants itself in the ground to stop Judy falling off the stage. Velvet tries to jump up to get out of the way of N9's arm but Judy strikes her with the shield, sending her backwards towards the edge. Velvet quickly recovers, planting her feet firmly on the ground to come to a sudden stop before pouncing forwards, flipping forwards and pushing herself off the ground with her hands to kick Judy up. Judy aims down and begins to fire, keeping her airborne for slightly longer before she begins to plummet towards Velvet as N9 shoots a chain spike out of one of her arms to drag them down quicker Judy attempts to strike again with her shields and N9 attacks with one of her other arms with a sawblade on it. As Judy reaches the ground, Velvet jumps up to her instead, catching her off guard, before backflipping and kicking her down to the ground, quickly chasing her down and kicking down on her left hand, causing the gun to go flying off the stage. Not letting up, Velvet quickly grabs her collar and picks her back up, punching her stomach and pushing her back across the stage, kicking her with her right leg to lift her up slightly before following with a backwards left kick, punching her back even further before N9 activates her booster to stop them from falling off the stage again.

"Are you sure you want to continue?" Velvet asks. "You lost by this point last time, are you sure your aura is okay?" She asks genuinely, which just annoys Judy more. Using the boosters, Judy launches herself forwards again, ready to strike before Velvet suddenly disappears from her view with a sudden jump before slamming her knee down on N9, causing a lot of damage to Judy's aura as she hits the floor and Velvet hops back up to her feet.

The buzzer goes off again and Judy checks her aura on her remaining shield, seeing that it is well under twenty percent. "Win by aura depletion and knockdown." Glynda says as the room lights up once again. Judy immediately looks up to the others in class, specifically to her team, but doesn't think she can see Luci there. "Would you like feedback or can already tell how to improve?" She continues to ask Judy, like she's done every time she lost this week.

"I know." Judy responded dryly, getting to her feet. "Can I have another try?"

Glynda sighs. "You can't duel with a near depleted aura."

"After it recovers then?" She insists. Glynda looks to Velvet who looks around confused for a second before eagerly nodding her head.

* * *

Luci looks around professor Ozpin's office. It has a large desk, which he is sat in front of, but that's really the only furniture there is, unlike the Signal headmaster office, which he frequently saw. The only way to get there is by the clocktower lift, since the room is at the very top, but the lift will only allow members of staff or permitted students to access this floor, making it seem quite secure. "Are you alright? You seem rather skittish." Ozpin says, taking his seat behind the desk. Luci looks back to him, looking past him slightly, still impressed by the view from the clock face window, even though every wall has a much bigger and more sensical window, this one looked coolest to him. "Do you like my office?" Ozpin tries converse again.

"Oh, umm... yes." Luci says, quickly looking back at him again, this time trying to focus as the second hand on the huge clock face ticks by and the gears above, below and around him whirr. Luci looks to his face, trying to read him but not being able to tell what he wants, the same as on the way here.

Ozpin chuckles to himself. "You must be wondering why I dragged you out of your important classes." He says. Luci remains silent, still trying to read him. "Of course, you must have heard quite a bit about me from mister Branwen, correct?"

"Who?" Luci asks, confused for a second before realizing he's referring to Qrow. It was weird to hear him called mister Branwen, even most of his students didn't call him that in his teaching days. "Oh... yes. He told me a little, it was obvious he knew more than he would tell me though." Luci continues, getting lost in thought for a second and forgetting where he is. He expects to get a lecture or something about respect but instead Ozpin chuckles again, slightly harder this time.

"You do sound quite like him, I think he spent too much time teaching you." Ozpin jokes. "There are a few people in your class in fact that have been influenced by him, namely his nieces."

"Nieces?" Luci asks in confusion. Ozpin grins slightly, which Luci determines to mean that he already won the conversation.

"Yes, two, I believe you know of one of them, at least." He continues as if he had planned the whole conversation ahead of time but still leaving time to respond before continuing. "Both from team RWBY in fact, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, two of your classes top students." Luci knew about Yang since before they came to Beacon, although all he knew was her first name and that she was related to Qrow, after seeing her dueling a few times over the week, she is obviously strong, if not too confident in that strength judging by her style, although it may be justified since she hasn't lost a duel yet. Ruby, on the other hand, hadn't really caught Luci's eye since their time at Beacon, which he was disappointed in since he heard she had been put ahead two years to come her now. She was clearly strong, and to Luci, clearly influenced by Qrow, but she had still lost a few of her duels over the week, losing to Pyrrha Nikos early in the week. "As you can probably guess, Qrow has told me quite a lot about you as well. He was worried you wouldn't fit in well here since a lot of the students have had a much... richer life than you have." Luci remains silent, wanting to know what he knows before he gives any kind of response. "Of course, I know why you were expelled from Signal, but that wasn't from Qrow specifically. I've been keeping an eye on you for him, although we've recently lost contact with him."

"So, you want to know if I know where he is?"

"Oh, no, not at all. He falls off the radar occasionally, especially since he quit teaching, I know you won't know anything." He begins again. "Tell me, how do you think we make sure the grounds are safe?"

"Cameras?" Luci answers.

"Do you think that is limited to the outside?" Luci refuses to answer and Ozpin continues. "You have only had your first duel today, but I notice that you fight very differently to how the people who saw you fight at Signal describe it."

"I'm sorry if this sounds out of place, sir, but is there a point behind this interrogation." Luci says, again forgetting who he's talking to.

Ozpin chuckles again, which is starting to get on Luci's nerves. "Of course. You see, we were monitoring you in the Emerald Forrest and it appears that several students encountered several powerful grimm. This was not part of the initiation." He explains, touching part of his desk to bring up a screen hologram showing a few soldiers standing outside a gate. "This is the camera feed for one of the entrances of the Emerald Forest, do you notice anything strange?" Luci takes a closer look and notices that the guards aren't moving at all and Ozpin grins again. "Now, this is the same feed after the initiation was complete." He says, pressing another area of the desk and changing it to a video showing the same gate with no guards in front. "The guards were found earlier this morning, although they both say they didn't see anyone. Now, here's the feed of another camera, tell me if it looks familiar." He says, bringing up another video, this time inside the forest, showing Luci stood in the clearing where he fought the beowolves. He looks closer and sees that the camera is rolling since he's moving slightly, like he's talking. He watches himself reach for his knife, like he remembers doing, although he can see that the knife is still in his pocket, Ozpin probably couldn't tell what he was doing so wouldn't question it, but he remembers not having his knife then. The camera then suddenly freezes and Ozpin cuts fast forwards it to Luci standing surrounded by dissolving beowolves. "Now tell me, there were supposed to be no grimm in the forest and one of the entrances was apparently left unguarded but there is no record of it, what does that tell you?" He continues without an answer. "And you are seen talking to yourself before the only camera that can see you freezes, hiding how you killed several grimm, how do you think that reflects on you?"


	16. Chapter 15: Difference of Opinion

Chapter 15: Difference of Opinion

Luci glares across the room at the four girls in team RWBY, although his view is blocked a bit by the team sitting across from them, team JNPR. He couldn't get what professor Ozpin said out of his head, especially when they were all sitting in the same room and especially when they were being so loud. A hand suddenly appears in front of his face and clicks its finders, snapping him out of his trance as he quickly reaches for his weapon before stopping himself.

"Are you okay?" Artemis asks him. "If you're sick, you could take the rest of the day off." She says, concern written all over her face. Vak looks over to them, still listening to the conversation Judy and Velvet are having.

"Didn't know you had a caring side." Luci mocks, forcing a smile. "I'll be fine, no need to worry." He turns to Velvet, seeing a break in their conversation. "So, is your team still on that assignment?" Velvet looks confused at the sudden topic change, although Luci wasn't listening enough to know what the topic was anyway, but she answers the question anyway.

"Oh yeah, they just finished!" She answers excitedly. "They called in this morning, but they wanted me to arrange transport."

"You have to arrange your own transport?" Judy asks.

"Only once you get to second year, you first years will have transport and missions arranged for you, don't worry."

"So... I guess we won't be seeing you much from now on." Judy says, hanging her head.

"What do you..." Velvet begins, realizing what she means. "Oh, no, I'm assigned to work with your class, once the others get back they'll probably want to meet you guys, I've already told them a bit about you."

"It's Coco, Fox and..." Artemis begins, going over their names again.

"Yatsuhashi." Judy finishes. "What assignment are they doing anyway? I though teams always stuck together."

"Well..." Velvet pauses. "We had a big fight before the start of the year and I ended up using my weapon too much, so... I can't exactly... use it right now."

"Is that why you haven't fought-" Judy begins.

"Rabbit!" Someone yells playfully across the room. They all turn to see Cardin waving her over.

"Guess I better go." She sighs.

"You don't have to-" Artemis says.

"Sorry, I have to help the whole class, I can't stay with you guys the whole day." She says, smiling slightly before walking over.

"I'm going over there if he starts anything again." Artemis says, placing her hand over her bow.

"She won't let you." Luci says. "Why do you think she does it." He looks over to team RWBY and JNPR again, this time pointing to Jaune. "He isn't exactly subtle about his jokes on the weaklings of our class."

"Jokes?" Vak says. "It's just plain bullying."

"Plus, Velvet isn't weak." Judy adds. "She could beat him in a fight easily."

"I'm not so sure." Luci says. "I'm not sure about her weapon, but unarmed, Velvet's fast but she doesn't do much damage with attacks alone, and Cardin's built like a tank, it will take a lot to take him down, even without his aura." He continues to explain. "What he's done so far isn't that bad, I mean, he's really only been an annoyance." He says before hearing a short, high pitch scream followed by some complaining. They look over to where Cardin is sitting with Velvet standing next to him, leaning over as he pulls her rabbit ears.

"I told you they were real!" He jokes with the rest of his team. Judy instantly stand up along with Vak but Velvet sees them and shakes her head before her ears are pulled again.

"Enough." Vak says under his breath, grabbing his spear and beginning to walk around the table. Cardin suddenly let's go and grabs his one hand with the other like it was hurt. Velvet stands there for a moment but walks back over to the group once she realizes what's happened.

"I see that you've returned to us." Jayce says as he sits across from Luci, indicating to Vak and Judy to sit back down. Eyuno and Apollo sit down as well, leaving a space between them as Dalos appears there while team CRDL look around in confusion.

"You shouldn't have done that." Velvet whispers to him.

"Done what?" He says, putting his feet up on the table. Eyuno sighs and reaches to Dalos' hand, quickly snatching something out of it.

"Stopping them was fine, but you didn't need to take these." She says, throwing what she took down on the table and the four scrolls become visible as they fall.

"Dalos!" Velvet exclaims. "Give them back before they realize what you did!"

"I'll give them back later, just give them a few hours and I'll leave them in their room, it'll be fine, maybe teach them something." He explains.

"But they can't get into their rooms without their scrolls." Eyuno says.

"They give out temporary scrolls if you lock them in your room." Apollo retorts, continuing again as Dalos tries to chime in. "I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it wouldn't be hard to sort out." Dalos smiles mischievously, quickly snatching them back up again and putting them in his pocket before disappearing again, and everyone ignores him.

"By the way, did you enjoy your fight?" Jayce asks Luci as Vak, Artemis, Apollo and Eyuno begin to speak among themselves. "I though you two would be a good match."

"It was interesting to say the least." Luci responds. "I think I understand his semblance at least now."

"Oh really?" Jayce says, clearly impressed.

"It's not only himself, but everything that touches him directly becomes invisible as long as it's touching him." Jayce remains quiet, looking at Luci intently for a few seconds, waiting for him to continue. "Umm... I found it out because when the dust touched him, it disappeared instead of showing me where he is. I guess it makes sense when you think about his clothes and weapons being invisible as well."

"Oh... yeah." Jayce says, sighing slightly before picking himself back up. "It was a good fight. That dust trick was clever but honestly, I'm kind of disappointed." He continues. Luci stares at him, waiting for him to explain before Judy sits herself down next to him.

"You could have won much quicker." She says. "You didn't use your left arm at all. Your shotgun spread could easily have found him if you just stood at one end of the stage and shot randomly and probably hit him easily."

"Well said. We've seen you use it, not for long but for long enough to know about your arm, I even made sure Dalos knew. It gave you a disadvantage in the fight."

"What's your point?" Luci says with hostility, only aiming it at Jayce.

"I think you need to embrace it." He says to Judy's surprise. "Everyone carries their weapons openly here, and it's not like you're the only one with battle scars, you could easily explain it, but even then, most people probably wouldn't ask."

"It's not about that." He replies, trying to finish the conversation.

"I think you should get a mechanical arm." Judy says "They're pretty popular in Atlas now but I can make something better than mass produced garbage. Plus, I can make it look more realistic to keep the surprise factor."

"I've told you before, I don't want one." He finishes again.

"Yeah, robotic limbs aren't as efficient as the real thing, they rust, get jammed and that type of thing could lead to even more injuries." Jayce says.

"Well, only if they're badly made." Judy retorts. "Telling the whole school, a major weakness would cause much worse injuries. People are always looking to stab each other in the back." She says, looking Jayce straight in the face as he stares back.

"You could say the same about robotic limbs. All technology has a weakness, and it wouldn't take long for a class of combat-oriented students to figure it out."

"I would be making it and when I make mistakes, I solve them, I don't give people defective gear. Also, it's mechanical, robotic limbs sounds stupid." She strikes back. They both stare daggers at each other.

"Can you two calm down?" Luci says plainly, taking a quick drink. They both stay quiet but continue to stare each other down.

"Don't worry." Jayce says, smiling back. "I didn't mean to force my point of view, sorry if I offended you." He says. Judy looks back at him, quickly using her analysis to read him, concluding that he was probably being sincere.

"Okay..." She replies. "Me too... sorry." She pauses awkwardly before grabbing Nixi from under the table and beginning to tinker with her. Luci looks around the room, catching his eye on team RWBY again, noticing that Jaune is gone now. They seem to be talking about some class trip he hasn't heard about, they were told while he was gone.

"Fine! I'll do it myself." Vak yells, standing up and storming out, leaving the previous conversation at a standstill before Velvet grabs her stuff and runs after him, followed by Artemis and Eyuno. Everyone else on the two teams stands up, realizing all eyes are on them now, grabbing their stuff on the way.

"What's going on?" Jayce asks Apollo, who grabs Artemis' bow along with his own.

"He's gone after CRDL, said he'll make them pay." He explains, throwing the bows over his shoulder, still reading a book he'd taken out mid-conversation.

"Good, let's go help him." Dalos says, appearing behind them. "They deserve whatever they get."

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, it's a never-ending cycle." Apollo says. "Plus, if he instigates it, he'll be the one in trouble." Seemingly convincing Dalos, they all run out, following the others with staring eyes following them all the way.

"No running in the halls!" Luci hears professor Goodwitch yell further down the corridor, followed by some more shouting from the others trying to explain the situation.

"Wait up!" Luci yells at them, catching up quickly. Everyone except Velvet is there, getting scolded by Goodwitch, who usually stands at this T section in the corridor at lunch times. She positions herself with her back facing the wall so that she can see them all.

"What is wrong with you all? You may still be first year students, but you are still expected to follow the rules." She says. They all look to each other as Apollo slowly catches up, walking slightly faster than he usually does when reading. "Miss Apelsin, mister Chris, please explain." Judy looks up, unsure at why she's being asked.

"Sorry, we have extra classes to get to, we've got permission to have the rest of the day off." Jayce says, stepping forwards, dragging Judy forwards so she's standing at his left. "I feel like I need the extra combat practice, since I don't get the chance much."

"Got permission from who?" She questions, taking out her scroll.

"Professor Ozpin." Jayce says confidently. Jayce looks left, checking to see how busy the corridor is. As soon as Goodwitch's scroll is at her ear, he pushes Judy away, forcing her to run down the corridor. "Go!" He yells as he snatches Goodwitch's glasses and runs in the opposite direction. She begins to run after him, while trying to get her crop from the back of her right boot before giving up on that and chasing him on foot. Everyone hesitates slightly, except Luci and Dalos who immediately start running, forcing everyone else to follow.

"We need to find him." Luci says. "Any ideas?"

"Split up." Judy says. "Half of us inside, half outside. Find either team CRDL, Vak or Velvet, stay in the call and say if you find anything." She says, quickly taking out her scroll and setting up a group call between them all, trying to include Vak and Jayce but neither of them answer. "JAVL outside, JADE inside. Break."


	17. Chapter 16: Academy Rumble: Split

Chapter 16: Academy Rumble: Split

Apollo, Dalos and Eyuno run through the halls at top speed, passing many confused students, mostly from second and third year since it's the first years' lunch time. Apollo takes out his scroll to check they're still in the call because Judy and the rest hadn't said anything in a while. "Are you doing okay outside?" He asks, just to make sure it's working.

"Doing fine." Luci replies. "We haven't seen much of the grounds yet so we're checking a map quickly."

"Good idea, you see anywhere inside where they might be?" He asks in general.

"I'm not sure." Judy says this time. "Vak liked the auditorium, if he wanted to duel Cardin, he might have gone there. Velvet... might go straight to one of the teachers, if she's still inside. I don't know enough about CRDL, so you might just have to guess." She finishes. Apollo notes it down on his scroll before trying to figure out where they are, seeing that they're outside professor Port's classroom and ducking in there quickly. He sees that the room is empty, although there are clear traces that the professor was there recently, such as half drawn grimm sketches on his boards. Apollo darts out and continues running down the hallway, planning on going to the auditorium next.

"Oh yeah." Dalos says, appearing besides him. "I should have probably mentioned, team CRDL said something about going after that Jaune kid."

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Apollo asks. "We could have added him to the target list from the beginning."

"I wasn't sure it was important at the time, I didn't know Vak was going after them." He explains. Apollo ignores his excuses and pulls out his scroll again to give the other group this information.

"Did you hear that?" He asks. None of them respond so he checks the call and notices that they're all muted. "If you can hear me, Artemis, unmute and mute again if you need to?" He says. All three of them stay muted with no changes. "Damnit." He says. "Do either of you know anything about Jaune?"

"His last name is Arc." Eyuno says. "He doesn't seem like much of a fighter and, from what I hear about him, he isn't much of a leader either, but that's mostly a rumor, so I wouldn't rely on it."

"That's not really helpful, anything else?" Eyuno thinks for a moment before speaking up again.

"We've seen him on the dorm roof a couple of times, he might be up there if he's alone."

"We?" Apollo asks.

"Yeah, I saw it too." Dalos explains.

"What were you two doing on the roof together?" Dalos giggles and is about to answer but is stopped by Eyuno slapping the back of his head.

"Study session." She says, pulling Dalos back to her side.

As soon as they reach the auditorium doors, they hear voices inside. "… Know what you are doing?" Comes a man's voice. Apollo can't tell who it is from behind the door, but he feels like he knows it well. He opens the door slightly to peek in, but it suddenly swings open and he trips through, just managing to stay up. "I'm glad you could all make it for your extra training session." The voice says as Apollo realizes who it is.

"Professor Ozpin?" He exclaims. He looks around the room and notices that Jayce and Velvet are in there as well, stood at the other end of the seating area. Ozpin invites the others in with a wave of his hand and closes the door behind them.

"Now, I will ask you all again. Do you know what you are doing?" He asks as they walk over to join their leader. "You cannot take property from students or faculty without permission, as well as running in the halls, ignoring orders from higher ups and trying to private your communications."

"We didn't try to private our communications." Apollo says.

"Of course, that was referring to your friend, Judy Apelsin. All of this is against academy regulations and you will be punished for it."

"We're sorry, sir, but we had good reason to-" Apollo continues.

"He already knows." Jayce says.

"You are correct, I know everything that happens at this academy. You could have reported this to us and we could have sorted this out." Ozpin says, causing Dalos to snicker. "Is there something wrong?"

"Obviously." He says. "If you knew about it and cared, you would've helped already, but instead you sat around doing nothing!"

"Dalos." Velvet whispers angrily at him.

"If that is your opinion of me, I apologize." Ozpin says. "But we cannot allow students to break the rules to enact vigilante justice. Your detention begins now." He says, sitting down near the door with his cane to his side.

"Please, sir!" Eyuno pleads. "We need to-"

"I'm sorry, but I can't make this exception." He says. He looks down to the tablet he's holding in his right hand but suddenly reaches out and grabs his cane with the other without looking up. "It was a good attempt, but you need to work on your timing." He says, tapping the cane on the ground as Dalos appears next to him before dashing back.

"Dalos! Apologize!" Velvet demands.

"No! He should be the one apologizing!" Dalos yells.

"He just did!"

"I don't care! We need to get out and find Vak before he does something stupid." He says, jumping forwards before being grabbed by Eyuno.

"Calm down." She says. "You're risking the entire team just to help him, it's not worth it." She says. Apollo and Jayce begin talking among themselves.

"That's not the point!" Dalos shouts in her face, pushing her hand off him. "Even if he wasn't our friend, you have to agree this is unfair! If you're going to let Vak gets expelled for this when we could be helping, I'm leaving with him!" He says. Eyuno lets go of his collar and turns him around.

"That was a bit overdramatic, but it works all the same." She says. A paper wall suddenly appears between Ozpin and the door. Apollo pushes Velvet towards the door, quickly telling her what him and Jayce were talking about, and she begins running. Ozpin stands up and begins to swing his cane towards the paper wall but suddenly pulls it back to block Jayce swinging Apollo's bow at him. Dalos figures out their plan and goes to join the assault before Eyuno stops him again, pushing him towards the door as well. "We don't need you here, go help the others." She says. He goes to argue but decides against it, turning invisible and running as fast as he can. Velvet throws the door open and they both rush through as it shuts behind them. Eyuno makes the wall collapse and the other two go to her side. Ozpin chuckles slightly and sits back down.

"That was good teamwork." He says pressing something on his tablet and they hear the door lock. "The plan was average, at best, but the execution was near perfect." They all lower their weapons, looking to each other before looking back to him.

"What was this then? Some kind of test?" Apollo asks.

"More of an experiment, really. Team duels will be starting in the next few weeks, but I wanted to make some arrangements with you first." He begins to explain. "The three of you have proven to be the most reliable in the new year, and you are the closest team to a student of interest. You could call this whatever you want, but I would call in an offer."

* * *

 _A bit of a shorter one this time but more to come soon. Thanks for sticking with me and thanks for the follows and favorites._


	18. Chapter 17: Academy Rumble: Weakness

Chapter 17: Academy Rumble: Weakness

Jaune stands at the edge of the first-year students' dorm roof, sitting with his legs hanging over the edge looking at his sword and shield before lying back, just in time to see Velvet, who he has only met briefly, burst through the door. He sits up and turns to see her as Dalos dashes up behind her.

"Jaune!" Velvet yells, rushing towards him. He stands up and puts away his weapon, confused at her reaction. "Are you okay? Has anything happened?" Dalos walks around to her side to see him better, wandering what he's doing up here.

"N-no. I'm good... Why?" He responds.

"Good. Do you know where Cardin is?" She asks eagerly. Dalos looks around the roof and notices a scroll near the door, walking over to check whose it is.

"No, why?" He says. "I saw him earlier in the cafeteria, but that's probably not helpful." He mumbles off. Dalos picks up the scroll and notices the name Jaune Arc on the top of the screen. He notices that it's still open at the bottom of a message only showing the last line, showing 'and remember, you owe me. Good luck.' Dalos knows the system behind the scrolls from experience, it logs you in as a guest automatically if it detects the wrong finger print on the screen. He looks behind him to see if they are looking his way before going invisible, making the scroll invisible as well. He smiles to himself, like he does every time he uses this trick on Eyuno's scroll to leave fake notes for her, before scrolling up the message, skimming it on the way up to see if it's worth reading. Once it stops at the top he notices one word out of the short paragraph, 'transcripts'. His eyes dart up to the top of the message to see who it's from, assuming something about transcripts would be from the academy, but the name at the top just says 'Anonymous'.

"We can't really tell you everything." Dalos hears Velvet say as he reads through the rest of the message.

"That's okay, I don't mind." He says, looking down at his feet. Dalos gets to the part of the message about transcripts before immediately standing up and marching back over to Jaune, still invisible but stamping hard enough to get their attention as he grabs Jaune by the collar before becoming visible again. "Whoa! What are you-?" Jaune begins, seeing the scroll in his hand on the open message. "Hey! That's mine!" He says, reaching for it before it is moved up to his face.

"What the hell is this!" Dalos says, pointing to the part he read.

"Calm down!" Velvet yells at him, grabbing his shoulder.

"He's a fake!" Dalos yells back at her. "It says he bought fake transcripts! For combat school, tests, everything! He didn't earn his way in!" He continues, holding him close to the edge of the roof as he begins to walk. Jaune flails, trying to push him back away from the edge.

"Dalos! Put him down! We can talk about this!" Velvet says, trying to pull him away. Dalos doesn't listen and keeps walking forwards, one goal set in his mind but not knowing exactly how to accomplish it.

"Go get Ozpin." He says, not lifting his head.

"No! I'm not leaving now." Velvet says. "We still need to find-"

"Go get Ozpin!" He yells. "The others are looking too! He needs to pay for this now!" He continues. "This worthless, cheating bastard shouldn't get to stay when some of us worked hard, through the blood and sweat, to get this far! Go get Ozpin, now!" Dalos looks up at Jaune and stops in his tracks, Jaune's feet just barely above the roof as tears run down his face, apologizing over and over again.

* * *

"Thieving fox!" One boy yells as the three of them continue to throw rocks. Dalos looks up, covering his face, to see the branches above him, wandering if he can reach them to get away. He knows the forests in Mistral like the back of his hands but it's still too close to the town to get away unscathed. He notices that the rocks had stopped so takes his hand away from his face slowly to look only to be struck in the face and bashing his head against the tree behind him. "We know you stole from the shop!" The same boy yells again. "Give it back!" He says, kicking Dalos in the side as the other two boys stomp on him. "Had enough?" He says, holding out his hand. Dalos smacks it away, trying to get to his feet.

"I didn't do anything!" He yells, getting onto his hands and knees. The boy scoffs before kicking him again, knocking him away. Dalos sees this as a chance to escape and gets to his hands and feet before collapsing again. The boys begin to laugh as he continues to try to stand up, just hurting himself more. Once he finally gets on his feet, one of the boys catches him by the collar and pushes him back against a tree.

"Where do you think you're going? Running back to your hole in the dirt?" He says, kneeing Dalos in the stomach. "Or are you going back to steal some bread as well?" He continues, striking him again. Dalos stays silent, bracing for the next hit, and the boy scoffs. "Weaklings. That's why you die so easily." He mocks. Dalos raises his legs and kicks the boy with both feet, causing him to let go and Dalos drops to the ground again as the boy clutches his stomach. "... You scum!" He says, kicking Dalos in the face this time as blood runs out of his nose. He touches the blood and raises his hand to see it, instantly beginning to cry as the other boys rush over to begin another assault.

"Hey!" A girl yells, Dalos tries to look up but stops half way because of the pain. He hears the boys stop running but knows they're still close enough to kick him if they wanted. "What are you three doing? It's getting dark, get back to town."

"But we-!"

"Now!" She interrupts and Dalos hears them all run away. Once he can't hear them anymore, he hears the girl walking towards him. "You too." She says, trying to pick him up and lean him on her shoulder. As she does, something falls out of his pocket, which he tries to pick up. "I've got it." She says, leaning over to pick it up while supporting him with her other arm.

"No!" Dalos says, but she already has it in her hand. She looks down and notices it's a necklace of a strange symbol before Dalos tries to snatch it away from her, causing her to move it away from him to get a better look.

"What is this?" She asks, holding it closer to her face.

"It's mine. Give it back." He says. She sees a label.

"Pawel's Pawn Shop? They don't sell to-" She begins, figuring out what had happened. "You stole this!?" She says, letting go of his shoulder and pulling out a scroll. "Is that what that was about? Disgraceful! I defended you and you did this! You're making yourself look bad." She says, beginning to type. He knows he can't stand up as he is now, not unsupported anyway, and she'll probably call the local police, so it won't be long before he's caught, he knows he's screwed now. His eyes start to water up.

"Please..." He begs on his hands and knees, face to the ground. "I just wanted it back..." She looks down at him and sighs, putting her scroll back in her pocket.

"You have five minutes to explain yourself." She says. "Use it wisely."

"... Thank you." He says. "It's my mothers. They took it when she..."

"Died?" She says bluntly. Dalos just nods.

"I asked if I could buy it back and they said I could for a hundred lien. I got that, and they raised it to a hundred and fifty, and just kept raising it. I didn't have a choice." She pauses, not giving away anything and trying to figure out if he's telling the truth. She sighs again and takes his hand, pulling him back up to his feet and leading him back towards town.

"I'm not letting you off that easily." She says, and he almost tries to throw her off him before she continues. "I'll return this for you. If you give me the money, then I can buy it for you." She says. He looks down in disappointment.

"I left the one hundred at the shop when I took it." He says. She sighs again, taking out a lien card.

"Then you're going to have to owe me." She says. "Which means we're probably going to be seeing each other more from now on."

"Why are you doing this for me?" He asks, not thinking of how that sounds. She looks back at him, her long, golden hair flowing in the wind as her face brightens.

"My dad says that mistakes that can be corrected should be. You made a mistake and I can help you fix it." She explains simply, smile on her face. "Since you're sticking around then, what's your name?"

"... Dalos."

"Last name?" She asks.

"... Guile." He says, slightly embarrassed.

"Weird name." She says. "I'm Eyuno Miae, nice to meet you."

* * *

"Please..." Jaune continues to beg. Dalos lets go and he drops to the floor.

"Are you-?" Velvet begins.

"You have five minutes to explain yourself." Dalos demands, holding the scroll to his face. "And I mean everything." He says, trying to smile but only making him look disturbed.

"I... I want to be a huntsman." He says plainly. "My family has a line of warriors, but I didn't qualify to get into combat school." He hangs his head. "I got in contact with someone who could forge what I needed to get in and I took it, I didn't have a choice."

"What about this message?" Dalos asks.

"He started messaging a week ago, asking for favors, using the fake transcripts as blackmail." Jaune says, tears building up in his eyes again. "I-"

"Stop." He cuts in, holding out his hand. "I get the idea. You're an idiot." Jaune tries to cut in but is stopped again. "A hopeful idiot, and I can't blame you for that... I'm one too." He says, continuing to attempt a smile. "If you want to make this right, prove yourself worthy of being here." Jaune doesn't take his hand so Dalos grabs his instead and lifts him to his feet. "I can help you, but you will owe me for it." He says, holding his hand out for a handshake this time. Jaune looks down at it, his face a twisted mess of confusion before he sees the genuine smile that formed across Dalos' face.

"Deal." He says, nodding as his face fills with relief, taking the hand offered.

"Good. Now help us find Cardin." Dalos says, smile still on his face.

"Wh- you want me to help?" Jaune says, getting confused again. Velvet giggles as Dalos gives Jaune his scroll back, putting his arm around the back of his head and dragging him back into the school. She hears a noise coming from her pocket, quickly realizing it's her scroll, and sees that Judy is calling her.

"Hel-?" She begins.

"Outside! Cliff edge! Need help!" She says, hanging up the phone as soon as she finishes. Velvet stands confused for a second but Dalos breaks her out of it.

"You heard that?" He says, not waiting for a response. "Good, let's go."


	19. Chapter 18: Academy Rumble: Four Verses

Chapter 18: Academy Rumble: Four Verses One

Vak sprints towards the group standing in the woods near Emerald Forest, preparing for an attack as he takes his spear off his back. They see him as he lunges forwards but is blocked by Cardin jumping in and smacking it out of his hands, but Vak uses the momentum to swing the blunt end up to hit Cardin back as he tries to block. "What the hell!" Cardin yells at him once he comes to a stop. "What're you doing?!"

"That was a warning. Stop attacking my friends." Vak says, planting the pointed end of the spear into the ground.

"We haven't attacked anyone!" The skinny one, Vak knows as Russel Thrush, objects. "We're just messing around, leave us alone!"

"I guess you're not getting the message." He says, grabbing the spear upside down but not picking it up. "Only fools request pain." He finishes as Dove and Sky rush him, Cardin tries to stop them but ends up rushing in behind them with Russel slightly ahead. Sky attacks first, his halberd being the longest weapon out of the four, but he is quickly dodged as Vak ducks under his swing. Dove attacks while he dodges but Vak kicks the spear near where it meets the ground, flicking the point up and striking Dove in the face before he follows it up with a gut punch, sending him back as Cardin catches him and pushes him back towards the fight. Sky makes his next attack as Russel joins the fray with his quick duel dagger attacks, which Vak finds harder to dodge but only takes a few hits as he tries to dodge both weapons, biding his time. As soon as Cardin gets there, Vak dodges out of the way completely, using the machine gun in the end of his spear to launch himself out of the way as Sky's halberd connects with Russel's arm, knocking one dagger up in the air. Vak jumps back in, using his gun in the same way, and catches the dagger as it begins to fall, putting it in his left hand while putting the spear in his right. As soon as he lands, he rushes them again, this time targeting Sky, who he sees as the weak link in close combat, striking him with his spear and continuing to charge forwards, carrying him along. As soon as he sees Sky's aura flash red, Vak pulls the spear back and swings the knife at Sky's shoulder, making a large cut, before snatching up his weapon as well and dashing away, leaving Sky to fly into a nearby tree as he yells in pain.

"You can't take our weapons!" Russel yells as they chase after him. Vak stops running once he reaches the edge of the woods, ending up at the cliff edge overlooking Emerald Forest. The remaining three catch up with him as he turns to look at them.

"You didn't stop to take care of your friend?" He asks accusingly. "A cruel fate, really." He says. As they look to each other, not sure what to think, Vak rushes them, replacing the dagger in his left hand for the halberd instead, clotheslining Russel and Dove, causing them to backflip and fall on their faces as Cardin makes his first attack with his mace, swinging down at Vak as he suddenly stops by planting the halberd in the ground, using the momentum to kick Cardin in the face with both feet before getting back up and making some distance again. "Come on. Do you want to die?" He mocks. "I thought you picked on people because you were strong enough to back it up, but I guess you're just a bunch of weaklings." He says, looking over the three of them. He gets a quick shock however as, unexpectedly, they all rush towards his, presenting faces unlike the scowls they had throughout the rest of the fight and instead having much more serious anger behind their expression and attacks. Vak had felt this before, a feeling and pressure he had only felt from animals and grimm, an intent to kill. A sword slashes low and he jumps over it but as he does the dagger strikes high, meaning to strike his face, but he only just manages to duck down in time as Cardin's mace strikes down, landing a direct hit on Vak as he struggles to block with his spear but instead having to block by grabbing the mace with his hand, hurting his hand and arm badly but is quickly healed by his aura. Cardin's expression changes slightly as Vak sees one of his hands move, accompanied by a small click as a trigger pops out of the mace and Cardin pushes it back down. Vak is consumed by a sudden heat as the end of the mace explodes into fire, draining away Vak's aura too fast for his comfort. Once Vak gets his bearings back, he quickly pulls out the dagger he had put in his sleeve and throws stabs it into Cardin's mace, aiming for the red dust crystal, which he assumes is causing the fire, and pierces it. The crystal explodes, sending everyone except Vak flying back, instead pushing him into the ground as his aura depletes. As soon as the heat begins to subside, Vak looks up and sees them running towards him, weapons still in hand but with their aura shimmering with red, giving him a boost in confidence.

"Bronze formation!" Cardin yells. Vak is confused by this until he notices Dove dashing towards him. Vak swings the spear at him but he suddenly ducks down, sliding on the ground, revealing Russel behind him, who jumps over the spear to prepare for an attack. Vak quickly turns to swing the halberd at Russel, getting him in the side with the back of the axe head, which he grabs, taking the hit but using that to take the halberd away from him as Dove Kicks up, sending Vak into the air slightly as Cardin takes a swing with his mace, ignoring Russel flying past him, becoming incapacitated. Vak goes flying back, not being able to see Cardin's attack thanks to his limited vision, smacking his arm on a tree as he goes past it, slowing him down enough to stop. Blood begins to drip down his arm as he notices it's more cut open than it feels. They continue to rush him, not seeming to care about his injuries, which he didn't expect them to. Dove gets there first, this time stabbing with his sword, aiming for Vak's side, presumably to avoid lethal damage, but Vak dodges and the sword stabs through the tree behind him and Vak punches him in the face, breaking his nose and causing him to leave the sword. The punch causes as much pain to Vak as Dove but he doesn't care, which seems to scare the other two. Vak brings up his cut arm quickly, causing blood to spread over the nearby areas, as he grabs the sword and forces it out with great struggle. Pale faced, Vak looks at them both as they try to decide what to do before he rushes Dove, headbutting him in his broken nose and punching him with spear in hand, knocking him out instantly. Cardin begins a swing with his mace but Vak swings the sword quickly, cutting near his muscle but not deep enough to do any lasting damage, just cause a lot of pain, causing his mace to go flying behind Vak as it skims his face. He brings the spear up and cuts Cardin's leg before bringing it to his neck, looking him in the eyes as he falls to his knees.

"You don't want to try and get up right now." Vak says. "Aura can heal a lot of injuries, but a hole in your neck isn't one of them."

"Wh-what do you want...?" Cardin says, letting his arms go limp and dropping his mace on the floor, fear smeared over his face.

"What I want?" He replies. "I told you from the beginning, leave my friends alone." He answers, shaking his head. "But really, this fight proved to me that you won't listen. You'll agree with me and continue to do it, trying to hide it better, maybe even just to spite me. And honestly, I can't afford to risk that."

"What...? You're going to ki-kill us?" Cardin asks as Vak's blood continues to drip to the ground.

"No. Even if I was going to stop you that way, I would only need to get rid of you. It's clear that without you, they wouldn't be confident enough to do this, although after this, they might stop with you here anyway."

"So... so what?"

"Simple." Vak says, raising Dove's sword, causing the blood to run down his side. "Judy was held back a year to recover from a lost limb, the difference is that hers grew back." He says, letting the words sink in. "You can't hurt them if they're gone when you get back."

"Wai-" Cardin begins to shout before Vak swings down as hard as he can.


	20. Chapter 19: Academy Rumble: End

Chapter 19: Academy Rumble: End

"You're so slow, hurry up." Luci says, turning back to see Judy lagging behind as they reach the front entrance.

"Shut... up... I'm coming." Judy barely manages to say between heavy breaths, forcing herself to move forwards.

"You're... really out of shape." Artemis says. "Why not just use... umm... your robot friend?"

"Too many people. Plus... I'm not doing... that bad." She says. They all stop, and she lets out a big sigh, only just staying up with shaky legs and hands on her knees.

"We need a plan, we could probably handle it, but Judy won't be able to keep pace if we just run around aimlessly." Luci says, half mocking her, half making a good point.

"I can..." She tries to reply, stopping to continue to catch her breath.

"If he came outside, someone would have seen him. If we hadn't ran into Goodwitch we could ask Ozpin, although he probably wouldn't help much anyway." Luci says, looking around.

"Why would-" Artemis begins.

"Hello?" Apollo's voice comes through their scrolls. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, we hear you. You find something?" Luci asks.

"No, just checking this is working, Dalos doesn't really trust this stuff." He replies, getting slightly quieter as Luci assumes he puts his scroll in his pocket. "Anyway, I'm hearing echoes of you, haven't you linked?" Luci and Artemis turn to Judy, not sure what he means.

"Team members can link their scrolls so that when they're in the same call and close together, it acts as one device and automatically corrects for the echo effect." Judy explains, finally catching her breath. "I would assume it's an artificial intelligence, it wouldn't be that complicated either." She pulls out her scroll and begins to tap, Luci's and Artemis' scrolls buzz and they both see that they have a link request. Artemis instantly goes to press it, but Luci grabs her arm and stops her.

"Wait a second." He says, letting her go and turning back to Judy. "Cancel the request. If they have an AI doing that, it probably means calls can be recorded, is there a way you can reverse that?"

Judy thinks for a second, not sure about the reason but trusting Luci to make the right judgement. "Not right now. If you're worried about someone listening in on the call, I can whip up a quick block for that, although it might ruin the call quality."

"How quickly?" Luci asks.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Judy replies, turning back to Nixi as a cable is brought out on pincers for Judy to plug her scroll into. "N9 can probably-"

"No!" Luci interrupts. "Nixi can't do it, if it is being monitored, plugging Nixi into it would alert them. You need to do it." Judy is skeptical but gives up and puts the plug away, opening her scroll to begin.

"You owe me for this one." She says.

"I know..." He replies. "Thanks."

"Hey guys!" Artemis says across the courtyard. "I found a map!" As soon as they reach the map, their Apollo begins to talk through their scrolls again.

"Are you doing okay outside?" Apollo asks, almost causing Judy to drop her scroll from surprise.

"Doing fine." Luci replies, still looking over the map. "We haven't seen much of the grounds yet so we're checking a map quickly."

"Good idea, you see anywhere inside where they might be?" He asks in general. As Luci looks over the map, Judy looks over his shoulder and notices a few locations inside that look promising and Apollo about them quickly, still mainly focusing on making their conversation private.

"Oh yeah. I should have probably mentioned-" Dalos begins on the other end before being suddenly muted, along with the rest of the other team.

"Hello?" Luci says, seeing how shocked Judy is by this. "Did you do that?"

"No. Even if I did, it would only mute it on mine, we aren't linked." She says before they Luci is muted on her scroll, followed by Artemis. "This... it's too purposeful, and too well timed." She says. "I just finished the basics for that spyware blocker and now there's no reason to use it, whoever's monitoring it must have done it to stop us from talking in private."

"Bastard..." Luci mumbles, knowing that Ozpin is just messing with them but not being able to say anything. "Is there any way to get past it?"

"Working on it, but software isn't my specialty, it's going to take a while." She says, flicking her hand across the scroll and quickly typing away.

"Found it!" Artemis says, pointing to an area on the map. "I've been thinking of setting up some traps near the cliff overlooking Emerald forest, but I couldn't find it." Luci sighs and shakes his head. "I'm not finished! On the map, it says it's off limits since students go there a lot to hold unofficial duels. If Vak wants to fight them, he might be there."

Luci thinks it over before shrugging and turning to Judy. "Can you work and walk?"

"I should be able to if you lead the way." Judy replies simply, staying focused on her work.

"Good." He says, grabbing he sleeve and leading her towards the woods. "It's a start, we're not going to find him just standing around. Good work, Artemis." He says, signaling for her to follow.

* * *

As Vak swings down, Cardin hears a loud noise behind him, towards the cliff edge. Vak doesn't stop but whatever he sees seems to slow him down, giving Cardin the chance to roll out of the way, kicking the sword out of Vak's hand with his good leg as he goes before limping as quickly as he can behind Vak and towards his mace, rolling onto it and picking it up before turning back. Vak looks back at him but doesn't chase after him, seeming too distracted by whatever he saw, which Cardin assumes is behind the trees.

"Did you see that?" Vak asks, looking back in the direction of the sound. Cardin is hesitant but speaks up.

"I'm not going to have a conversation with you after that." He replies.

"Then don't talk." Vak says, struggling to but eventually putting his spear on his back. "A bullhead's here, somebody probably saw us fighting and reported it. I don't want to get kicked out, and I'm sure you don't either, so just say we were training."

"Are you insane? If they are here, then I'm reporting you the first chance I get!"

"You know you don't have any evidence. Besides, if they think this fight is serious, then it would look like you four attacked me, since I would have to be "insane" to attack with a handicap." Vak says, looking back at Cardin, who simply turns away. "They probably found the others already since they're closer to the clearing, we should-" He continues before being cut off by the sound of another bullhead airship flies overhead, going down in the same place Vak saw the other one. "That's strange." He mumbles, thinking for a bit before turning around and walking in the opposite direction, clutching his wounded arm as he goes past Cardin.

"Wha-where are you going?" Cardin asks.

"Away from here. Something's not right." He says simply. "You can either come with me or go find out what it is, either way I'm not risking it."

"What do you... I can't leave my team behind."

"I didn't think you were the type to care about your underlings." Vak mocks with a chuckle, not looking back. Vak is suddenly pulled back and thrown to the ground by Cardin as he struggles to stop his arm from bleeding as Cardin grabs him by the collar.

"Don't call them that!" He shouts to Vak's surprise. "They're my friends! We all worked so hard to get here! Disrespect them again and you're dead!" Vak begins to laugh loudly after a slight pause, Cardin not letting him go.

"You think you can threaten me? Have you taken a life before, or is that just an empty threat? You want to know hard work? Try throwing yourself into deadly situations, one after another, to find something that might not exist..."

"Shut up!" Cardin yells, seeing that it's clear Vak would continue. "Just because your life was harder, doesn't mean ours weren't! You don't know anything about us!" He says, throwing a punch. Vak instinctively dodges, swinging his head forwards and headbutting Cardin in the nose. As soon as Cardin lets go, Vak tries to get up but accidentally uses his wounded arm, collapsing on it straight away and opening the wound before it starts to heal. "Your aura's back already?" Cardin asks in surprise.

"Yeah. One thing they don't teach you is that you can train your aura." He says, looking down at his arm as he waits for it to heal up. "Well-" He begins before seeing a bolt pierce the healing wound and pain shoots through his body like lightning, only just managing to keep his voice contained.

"Another thing they don't teach you..." A voice says from the direction the bolt came from. Vak looks up and sees a silhouette of four people, the one second from the left clearly being the one that's talking, although the one third from the left seems much more intimidating. The one talking begins to walk forward, obviously not needing the cane he had in hand. His hat is the first thing Vak notes, followed by his bright orange hair. The atmosphere around him being that of clear superiority while still giving off an air of boredom as the person that was to his right begins to walk forwards, swinging an umbrella in her hand before holding it over her shoulder, mimicking the man's pose with his cane. "Dust is much stronger against aura than physical damage."


	21. Chapter 20: Negotiations

Chapter 20: Negotiations

"Now kids, I'm gunna be straight with you, there's not much chance you're surviving this." The orange haired man says. "But, I am not a monster." Vak notices one of the people staying back in the shadows stepping forwards before the other stops them. "If you had just left, you might have had more options, but as it is, you have two." He says, holding up two fingers, mimicked by the girl with him. "First, you can die, either to me or them." He says, indicating to the shadowy figures with his head before putting down one finger. "Or, you could join us." He says. Vak looks around, trying to find a way out of this situation. He dropped his spear without realizing when Cardin pulled him down, but Cardin has his mace next to him still, although maces are slow compared to Vak's usual weapons of choice.

"I'm considering it." Vak says to Cardin's surprise. "But, I would like to know who I would be working for." He continues, thinking that it would buy some more time if he didn't refuse outright.

"Well, well." The man says. "You seem calm for a situation like this. Do you really think you can make demands like this?"

"No, but I don't think you're exactly trying to hide who you are, not like your friends back there." Vak replies confidently, having met his type before.

"Well then." The man replies, stepping back from the two. "I'm assuming you're not from Vale, since everyone knows who I am, I bet your friend over there could even answer that." He says, pausing for a few seconds. "Well?" He says towards Cardin.

"Oh... w-well, he's Roman Torchwick, he-"

"Okay, okay, enough." Torchwick says. "I can make my own pitches." He says, indicating to the girl next to him, who produces a bag and passes it to him. "Tell me, what skills do you have that will be useful to me?"

"I'm skilled with most forms of close combat weaponry and hand to hand combat." He says, thinking of a way to take out his scroll, giving up and thinking of a way to make a lot of noise without being too suspicious.

"Well, if you want to go for the simple stuff, then sure, however I'm more interested in what more you can offer me." Torchwick says, resulting in a confused look from both Vak and Cardin. "With the skills I've seen you use, you could be one of my higher minions, but I figure you might have something... more." He continues, resulting in a similar reaction from both boys again. Torchwick sighs. "If you still don't get it then I'll make this simple. Information, resources, access to restricted areas, stuff like that, do you understand, or are you really this stupid?" Torchwick complains. Vak suspected that's what he meant, of course, but he thought it would buy at least a bit more time for someone to find them or for him to come up with a plan, neither of which happened. Vak nods in response, worrying what Torchwick would do if he looked too clueless. "Good, do you have anything like that then?"

"Well..." Vak stalls, thinking what he could possibly give without giving away too much. He had his family name, which Torchwick, or one of his grunts, might know but offering his family resources would put his brother at risk, as well as risking them taking him hostage then. The only thing he could think of was... "I can work as a double agent inside the-" He says before Torchwick smacks his in the stomach with the handle end of his cane, only managing to slightly damage his aura but interrupting him all the same.

"That was a warning. Don't try to mess with me, kid, or your friend may have to suffer the consequences." Tourchwick says, moving his cane to hover the end over Cardin.

"But..." Vak says, stopping himself. If he doesn't want someone inside the academy, then that limits his options. In which case, it didn't give him much choice, either sell out his family or sell out his team, and it isn't really a question for him. "I..." Vak hesitates, unsure, wanting to find another option. He still has the option of making some noise, but Cardin, or even the rest of his team, might be killed before anyone arrives. When it comes down to it, only one choice makes sense to him. "I know... some important people..." He says, pausing to consider how to word it before seeing Torchwick raise his cane again. "I suspect someone on my team is the Midnight Demon!" He blurts out, seemingly stopping Torchwick mid swing. He doesn't really believe what Artemis said about Luci being this living legend, but decides that if this conversation is working, it's worth continuing. "He's a lot stronger than he lets on and he uses similar weapons to what the story says! I might... will convince him to join as well, but only-" He continues before being cut off as Torchwick steps towards him and begins talking.

"You said Midnight Demon, right?" Torchwick says, with a glint in his eyes. "Tell me his name." He demands. Vak considers for a second before being interrupted again. "Actually, he probably changed it. Tell me what he looks like."

Vak thinks about what he could do, thinking that he might have made a bad decision mentioning that as his first point. It got Torchwicks attention, but if he's asking for what he looks like, he might know the Demon in some way, although Vak doesn't know enough about the story of the Midnight Demon to say that they know each other for sure. If Vak lies, he might be putting Cardin and himself in more danger, but if he describes how Luci looks, it might put him and the team in danger. "He..." Vak thinks over the conversation again, but doesn't see a way out of this now, he's locked himself into this one answer.

* * *

"Hurry up, if he's not here, we have to figure out where to search next." Luci says, ducking under some branches. Artemis looks back and sees that, although he's ahead of Judy, he is still struggling not to trip over anything. Artemis suggested this route since it was the quickest, according to the map, as well as being the densest part of the wooded area, making it easier to hide if needed, but she didn't realize they would be so bad with their foot work. Artemis rolls her eyes and looks ahead, waiting for a clearing to drop them off and look around without being dragged down by them.

"... Demon!" Artemis hears faintly, causing her to stop.

"What's wrong?" Luci asks, slowly catching up to her.

"Quiet." She whispers, listening as hard as she can.

"He's a lot stronger that he-" She hears Vak say.

"I hear him shouting, it sounds bad." She says, pointing to their right. "That way, not sure how far though, we need to go fast."

"You're hearing must be-" Judy begins.

"No time for small talk, jump up the trees and run along the clearest parts, don't wait for each other, just get there as fast as possible." She says, jumping up immediately. Luci and Judy look at each other for a second but Luci quickly follows Artemis.

"Damnit." Judy says, jumping up before Nixi pulls her up the rest of the way with her arms.

Artemis listens out attentively, trying to get a better read on the direction, but can't hear anything anymore. She looks around as she runs, seeing if there are any clearings, since Vak would probably want to fight in a clear area rather than surrounded by trees based on what she's seen of his fighting style.

Artemis stops suddenly after hearing some murmuring, noting that she's going in the right direction but that the voice wasn't Vaks. She considers the voice might be Cardin or another member of his team, but it doesn't sound like them, although she knows her voice recognition skills are nowhere near her animal sound recognition skills, so it might just be her mistake. She continues to jump from tree to tree, only slowing down to listen better one she begins to hear the conversation better.

"... black knife. Black hair with a stripe of-" Vak says.

"Green? Down the front, right?" the voice asks.

"... Right..." Vak responds, sounding hesitant. The voice begins to laugh, not very loudly but loud enough that Artemis can hear it clearly.

"We finally found him." The voice says. Artemis sees a clearing ahead and assumes it's where the voices are coming from, stopping at the edge to see in without being too noticeable. She sees Vak and Cardin standing in front of a man and a woman, assuming the voice came from the man. Luci arrives shortly after and takes out his knife before Artemis indicates to stop. Luci looks confused, expecting the fight to already have started, before looking down as his eyes open wide and his mouth drops.

"No..." Luci mutters under his breath, bringing his free hand to his mouth to stop himself from saying something. Artemis dashes closer to him.

"You know them? I think they're talking about you." She whispers. Luci stands up as much as he can, looking like he's about to jump. "Wait, what're you-?"

"Don't worry about me." He says. "Once Judy gets here, she might start fighting right away, stay hidden and cover her." He explains, immediately dashing towards the trees trunk and pushing off it to fly towards the man.

"Wai-" Artemis begins, stopping once she realizes it's too late and readying her bow.


	22. Chapter 21: Recognition

Chapter 21: Recognition

Luci rushes forwards, charging at Torchwick head on before a bolt strikes his leg, not managing to break his aura but making him fall as another bolt heads towards his head, which he rolls out of the way of. As soon as Torchwick sees him, he takes a step back and the girl with him, who Luci doesn't recognize, steps forwards, blocking Luci's path. "Don't shoot him anymore!" Torchwick says, looking to where the bolts came from. "And you two should really come out now, you're not hidden very well." Luci doesn't bother to wait and rushes while he thinks they're distracted, aiming to get around the girl and kill Torchwick any way he can. As soon as he reaches the girl, he fakes left before dodging right. He looks to see if he's far away enough to get past her but all he sees is her staring at him with a smile on her face, causing him to jump back. He looks at her face, moving around a bit to see if he can lose her, but she follows every move he makes.

"Who the hell are you?" Luci asks curiously, temporarily distracted from his killer instinct. The girl just looks at him and smiles.

"She's your replacement, Little Killer." Torchwick says, no malice behind his words. "Neo show him what you can do." Neo makes a quick mock bow before rushing towards Luci.

Luci's instincts kick in again and he strikes suddenly with his knife, aiming for Neo's chest, but she moves before he knows it, dodging out of the way and getting as close to him as possible before making a light palm strike, not doing much damage but pushing him back away from her quite a bit. Luci charges her this time, making a few quick strikes, which all miss, except for one which Neo blocks easily with her umbrella before flicking it up, throwing his knife in the air with the umbrella handle. Luci jumps up and catches it before stabbing as he falls, aiming for her head this time, but Neo simply moves back, pushing back with the handle of her umbrella again, hitting Luci in the stomach as his aura flares with red. Luci tries to get up when Neo suddenly flicks up her umbrella to the right of his head, and as the wind from the swing brushes his face, he thinks she missed him. She looks to his right suddenly and Luci hears Torchwick shouting about something before seeing the bolt fall from the sky, snapped in half.

"What are you idiots doing?!" Torchwick yells at the other two enemies, one of them wielding a small crossbow attached to her left arm. They're wearing masks which Luci doesn't recognise, but they look like grimm skulls, the girl's looking like a nevermore, but Luci doesn't recognise the mask of the man as any specific grimm. It covers his whole face and has red markings from the mouth to the eyes. He is a tall and muscular man, practically the opposite of the petite girl next to him, and carries a large chainsaw type weapon, which would drag along the ground if he put it on his back.

"We've told you already, we can't let anyone see us." Nevermore says. "We have to kill him before he gets away." She says, loading another bolt.

"Now." Vak whispers before jumping up and running to pick up his spear, only just getting it in time to swing at Neo before she moves. Neo jumps before landing on the tip of the spear, pushing it into the ground, but Cardin rushes her suddenly, swinging down as hard as he can, hitting her on the arm slightly as she dodges out of the way. Luci takes the chance to get back on his feet as well, charging at Torchwick again, this time getting close enough to make an attack.

Torchwick swings his cane around, bouncing it off the ground to swing it back up faster, but Luci knows his tactics and dodges out of the way easily. The nevermore girl takes aim and fires before her crossbow is jammed by an arrow, causing the dust crystal she loaded to explode, destroying the gauntlet that the crossbow is attached to. Luci doesn't pay much attention to the explosion however, focusing on his own fight instead.

"You know you can't beat me, Little Killer." Torchwick mocks. Luci ignores what he's saying, seeing no need to talk when he already knows he can win.

Luci stabs towards Torchwick's face, which Torchwick blocks easily, as Luci expected, but he quickly flips the knife around in his hand and strikes at the side of his head. Torchwick ducks under the attack but loses his hat as Luci stabs through it before throwing it to the side. Luci strikes again, this time aiming for the arm holding his cane, but this time Torchwick has the upper hand, as he swings his cane around Luci's neck, pulling his head forwards before kicking his feet from under him, tripping him onto his stomach before stabbing down with the end of his cane at Luci's head. Luci pushes himself back enough to dodge the attack before pulling himself forwards and pushing his legs off the ground to kick Torchwick with both feet and stand back up, knife still in hand.

"You've impressed me, Little killer." Torchwick says as they stare each other down. "Like I said before you left, you can always come back if you want."

"You also said you would kill me the next time you saw me and look how that turned out." Luci mocks, trying to read his movements. Torchwick laughs.

"I thought you deserved a last chance." He explains. Luci laughs this time.

"I didn't know you were the sentimental type." He replies, getting ready for another assault.

"I'm not. You proved you could do what it takes years ago, if you came back, you could nearly be on par with Neo, at least rank-wise." He says, leaning on his cane again, not seeming worries about the next attack.

"Well, all you've done is disappoint me." Luci says. "Since when did the gang have ranks anyway?"

"Since we got serious." Torchwick responds. Neo suddenly appears in front of Luci, hooking her umbrellas hook on his leg before quickly pulling it up, lifting him up in the air before pulling him over her head, flipping backwards and kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying towards Torchwick, who readies his cane like a bat before swinging, smacking Luci in the back. Luci tries his hardest to ignore the pain but drops his knife. He improvises as quickly as he can, grabbing Torchwick's arm with his now free hand before punching with his left hand, which crumples on impact, causing the spike hidden inside to break through it and stab through Torchwick's forearm, causing him to drop his cane as he shouts in pain and Luci falls to the ground.

"Hah, still not got your aura then?" Luci mocks, spitting blood onto the ground. "You act tough until your weakness gets exposed. Consider getting a tutor." He continues, laughing lightly, realising he can't feel his legs before he passes out.

* * *

"Now." Vak whispers before putting his plan into action. Him and Cardin had begun whispering as soon as it seemed like Torchwick and Neo were distracted but this seemed like the opportune moment, until Cardin swung down on Neo while she was standing on Vak's spear, breaking the tip of the spear off completely. Vak swings the rest of the spear like a staff to try and catch Neo off guard again, but this time she simply ducks under it, letting the spear pass her rather than blocking it, leaving her guard up when Cardin makes another attack but gets distracted by an explosion from one of the masked people, giving Neo the chance to simply push herself off the ground, kicking her legs out as she goes up, hitting Cardin directly on the nose. The pain forces Cardin to focus on the fight, quickly grabbing the leg that kicked him and throws her away behind him.

Neo looks like she's about to hit a tree but, in the blink of an eye, she flips around mid-air, catching the tree on her umbrella hook and swinging around it before flying back at them. She suddenly plants her feet on the ground and comes to a sudden stop before three arrows hit the ground in front of her before she spins around and blocks two more with her umbrella. Judy jumps out of the treeline, charging forwards as she shoots with both her revolvers, both of Nixi's arms already out with spinning saws on their ends. Neo spins around quickly and blocks the bullets flying at her, realising her mistake too late, leaving herself wide open as the dust bullets begin to explode into fire, forcing her to either block them or lose her aura. Cardin and Vak make another assault, charging with weapons in hand at Neo while Artemis loads three arrows into her bow, taking aim at the sky and firing. All at once, Neo has four enemies attacking her, making it much harder for her to mask her emotions. Her small grin slowly changed into a fierce smile as the first weapon reaches her.

Vak's staff stabs at Neo's chest as Cardin's mace swings slightly lower. Neo swings her umbrella down suddenly before fire shoots out of the top of the canopy, filling the area with smoke and firing her up above both weapons before she quickly kicks down on Vak's staff, breaking it in half, and using the spike on the end of her umbrella to pierce Cardin's hand. Judy continues to shoot, slightly hesitant as she can't see exactly what's happening, and Artemis looks for Neo as fast as she can, noticing her umbrella and firing before she can move again. The arrows she fired into the air come down at the same time as the forth arrow reaches Neo, but she blocks the three from above before catching the forth one with her other hand, throwing it onto the ground before getting hit in the side by one of Judy's stray bullets. Taking this as a final warning, and already knowing their mission is complete, Neo disappears from the smoke.

Artemis looks over to Luci's fight, being the first to notice Neo's disappearance, just in time to see Luci fall to the ground after creating a new hole in Torchwick's arm. She goes to grab another arrow before noticing she's ran out, taking a second to unravel her bow and running towards Neo and Torchwick before Judy begins shooting again, seeming to hit them both before they break into glass, vanishing from the scene.


	23. Chapter 22: Conviction

Chapter 22: Conviction

"Luci..." Luci hears faintly. He opens his eyes and sees a girl in front of him, or more accurately over him. He feels something soft on his back as he lies on the ground, making him more comfortable than he had ever been before. He knows none of this is real but wants to indulge in the illusions for a while longer before she tells him the reason she woke him up in the middle of the night. He reaches out and touches her face with his left hand before putting it down again, realising he couldn't feel it anyway. She begins to talk about something and even though he can't hear her, he remembers what she said. It wasn't something important but it was the last thing she said to him, making it the most important thing she ever said to him. His vision begins to fade and become clearer as the memory disappeared, and reality came back into focus.

"Sis..." He whispers, wincing at the thought that he used to call anyone that, before his eyes shoot open. He doesn't bother to get up from the dirt he's lying on since he's pretty sure he can't move anyway, but he does move his head enough to see Judy and Artemis watching him while Velvet, Vak and Dalos come running towards them with what seems like some medical equipment. He feels his aura healing his back but can tell it's not going to heal completely on its own. Judy goes to pick him up with tears in her eyes, but Artemis stops her before lifting him herself slightly to place some type of mattress beneath him. "Wha-" Luci begins before being cut off by a coughing fit. "What happened?" He asks, knowing the answer since none of them are dead.

"They got away." Artemis says. "But that doesn't matter right now! We need to get you to the infirmary!" She continues. Luci smiles the best he can.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." He says before trying to sit up, giving up half way once the pain becomes unbearable.

"Don't try to act cool at a time like this." Judy says, seeming to have calmed down slightly thanks to what he said. "Cardin's coming with a stretcher, so just lie there and wait."

"No need." Someone says behind her. Judy and Artemis turn around to see Ozpin standing there, like he had been there the whole time. "Cardin gave me a full report on what happened here and-"

"Why didn't you come to help us?" Luci asks accusingly. "You have cameras all over the school grounds, right? Why didn't you help us?" The others look to Ozpin with the same question in their eyes. Ozpin's usual casual nature about these situations seems to break and he looks at all of them with suspicion.

"We have a breach in security. Our cameras are being taken down whenever anything happens, so we can't see the culprits, but from what Cardin explained to me, Roman Torchwick and some members of his "Gang" were the ones who caused this, am I correct?" He asks, already knowing the answer. "That makes your involvement all the more suspicious, Luci, thanks to your connection to him and his group." He explains clearly before his usual casualness returns. "Of course, these are all speculations, and the same goes for Cardin's story. None of this information can be confirmed without evidence, and none exists." He says, beginning to walk away. "There is only one thing you have to know." He continues, stopping suddenly and turning back to look at them all. "None of the students need to know about this, we don't want to cause a panic now, do we?" He finishes before turning back and beginning to walk again. A few seconds after that, a few of the teachers arrive on the scene and cart Luci, as well as the rest of team CRDL away, and Judy followed after them, leaving Dalos, Velvet, Artemis and Vak, who had healed enough that he could get there himself, at the scene.

They all quickly explain what they know before moving on to a different conversation. "What the hell were you thinking!?" Artemis yells at Vak, who is taken off guard slightly at the sudden change in mood.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't going to kill them, I should have made that clearer." He says.

"That's not the problem!" Artemis continues. "Well, that's part of it, but not all of it! We're your team. We need to look out for each other. You can't just run off to do something risky without talking it through with us first!"

"But... No one was going to do anything. I'm not going to watch my friends get hurt and do nothing to stop it."

"I didn't want this." Velvet finally speaks up. "I could easily take Cardin down if I wanted to but that wouldn't solve anything, he would have simply used it as an excuse to hurt others instead. I can take what Cardin does, but some people can't, and those people would be the ones to get hurt." Velvet continues with tears running down her face.

"... I'm sor-"

"Well..." Cardin says, walking into the clearing, still covered in bruises and cuts. "If you think you can take me, then fight me."

"I'm not fighting you right here." Velvet says. "That's against the rules."

"Of course not." He replies. "I didn't come out here to fight, we came out here to train. The duelling arena is for the serious fights, the fights that prove your worth. If I do something you don't like, I always accept a chance to prove myself." He says, walking through the clearing.

"Umm... Where are you going?" Vak asks him.

"To find the others, can't exactly leave them out here." Cardin says.

"But they were already taken to the infirmary." Vak says, pointing to the academy building.

"Really?" Cardin asks, to which Vak confirms with a nod. "Damnit." He says, running back the way he came.

"Cardin." Vak stops him. Cardin turns to him. "Thanks... for helping with Neo. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Don't patronize me." He says. "Next time, we fight one on one, and I'll win." He says before continuing his run back to the academy.

"Yeah, right." Vak whispers before Velvet and Artemis continue their tirade.

* * *

"You didn't need to follow, I'll be fine with some rest." Luci says to Judy as she sits in the chair next to his infirmary bed.

"You don't get injured this badly very often, don't take this away from me." She jokes, holding Nixi on her lap. "Plus, N9 can give you a basic rundown, if you want."

"Have a robot, with numerous sharp objects, rub me down while I can't run away? I think I'll put my trust in the experts."

"You know you're going to hurt her feelings."

"I also know you would have put her in sleep mode, so that she doesn't see me like this." Luci says with a small smile.

"You're right again, like always." She says with a sigh.

"What does that mean?" He asks suspiciously.

Judy sighs and puts Nixi on the floor. "Artemis told me what you told her to do." She explains; Luci tries to turn away, but Judy holds his head in place. "You don't need to worry about me. If I took the beating you did, I would probably be healed in a few hours, you're going to be out for at least a week. Just because you're strong, doesn't mean you're invincible."

"You don't understand..."

"Yes. I do." Judy says, letting his head go and he stops trying to look away. "You told me a little about what happened with Torchwick, and I understand that you wanted to kill him without getting anyone involved, but when you put yourself at risk, I want to help even more." She says, forcing herself to look him in the eyes. "The people in masks. They might look a bit different now, but they were definitely White Fang. I wanted to go after them so badly that my head felt like it would explode from anger, but I held back. Do you know why?"

"... Because-"

"Because of you!" Judy shouts at him, kicking herself off the chair to stand up, causing the other patients to look at her before she sits back down, her embarrassment overshadowed by rage. "When I got there, Vak and Artemis needed help, but you were fighting your own battle, so I had to step in to make sure everyone was okay, and then at the end, you were too injured to move, I couldn't exactly leave you behind, could I?" She says, half accusing, half questioning. Luci lies there in shock, but he's always been quick to improvise. He reaches out his hand to hers and takes hold of it, looking into her eyes.

"You're the leader of this team. Tell me what to do and I'll do it." He says, trying his hardest to smile but ending in just a weak grin. Judy thinks for a second before smiling brightly at him.

"Just live."

* * *

"Are you still keeping an eye on that boy?" Goodwitch asks as she walks over to Ozpin's desk and he puts down the table he is using. "He won't be able to do anything while he cannot move." She says, placing down a report in front of him.

"That was fast. I didn't expect them to take this so seriously." Ozpin says. "They most likely want a full report, although it is mostly just speculations." He says, already having the call ready to make on his desk. "I'm sorry, this call will only be for the principals." He says. Goodwitch nods politely and enters the lift and leaves the floor. Three holographic screens appear above the desk showing the other three principles, Ironwood, Lionheart and Highwind. Highwind speaks up first with her usual form of greeting.

"You really screwed up this one, haven't you?" Highwind mocks, fiddling with her brown twin tails as they come undone.

"Hush down, Highwind." Ironwood says, his stern eyes piercing her, even though the screen. "Mind explaining this attack report we received? The automatic reports are very bare bones."

"You can't tell me to shut up!" Highwind argues back, sitting up in her chair. "I earned my way onto this council fair and square, unlike some people." She says. Ironwood simply sighs in response, allowing Ozpin to explain.

"We have reports from several students that Roman Torchwick, along with a few other criminals, invaded school ground and attacked said students, injuring several of them quite seriously." Ozpin says. "We believe, based on current descriptions of the perpetrators, that some of the attackers were from the White Fang."

"Were they wearing grimm masks?" Highwind asks and Ozpin confirms. "Yeah, that was probably them."

"How long have you-!" Ironwood asks angrily.

"Careful James, we don't want any more grey hairs, do we?" She jabs, moving on when she sees how serious everyone is. "We got some reports about faunus, claiming to be White Fang, wearing grimm masks and attacking people. If you wanted to know, maybe you should all read the reports I send in, not like I send them for my own benefit." She explains with hostility. They all fall silent until Ozpin is forced to speak up.

"Leonardo, have you heard anything about this?" He asks to a quiet Lionheart.

"Oh, umm." The large man stumbles, knocking over something on his desk. "Yes, we have had some reports of masked perpetrators in certain areas, but we had no reason to believe the White Fang was involved." He says, picking up whatever he knocked down, covering the camera in his golden hair.

"Well, that settles it." Ironwood says. "Vale is clearly under assault. I will be attending at this year's Vytal festival to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"James, that is unnecessary." Ozpin says. "This is the first attack on the school in years and, from what I can tell, it seems unlinked to anything bigger. Roman's group is small in numbers and the White Fang doesn't have the technology for a full-on assault, not a successful one at least."

"I'm not leaving this to your army alone. I told you that I would be there to help, whether you like it or not." Ironwood says. "The council will side with me on this, an attack on students this close to an event will be serious."

"If you are set on doing this, then I have conditions." Ozpin says. "I will be implementing some new rules until the festival ends, to ensure people's fear doesn't get us in a deeper mess." He explains.

"You know, there's usually no need to limit your student's freedom to stop the grimm coming if you actually take care of them." Highwind mocks, kicking her feet up on her table and leaning back. "Although it seems like I, the youngest one here, am the only one who knows how to do that."

"Donnalee, please." Ozpin says. Highwind stops but is clearly annoyed, crossing her arms as she listens to Ozpin's demands.

* * *

"What happened?" A green haired girl asks as Roman enters the room.

"Oh boy, here we go." He sighs, handing his cane to Neo, who follows behind him.

"Why did you attack the students? You were making a simple trade!" She continues.

"Hey, Merc, tell me where Cinder is." He says to the silver haired boy leaning in the corner.

"Ask Emerald, I just got back." He replies, leaning further into the corner.

"Em, where's Cinder?" Roman asks.

Emerald sighs, walking over to the map they've pinned up on the wall. "She wanted to do some sight-seeing... alone." She replies, taking a marker and crossing out the cliff at Beacon. "Hopefully the White Fang will overlook your stupidity and still join up with us. You did give them the dust, right?"

Roman looks shocked. "Oh no, I forgot literally the one thing I was paid to do. Of course, I delivered it, who do you think I am."

"An idiot." Emerald says.

"A moron?" Mercury chimes in.

"A criminal." She says as she walks into the warehouse. "But do you think you deserve that title anymore?" She continues.

"Finally, I was waiting for you." He says, going over to the map Emerald is looking at, causing her to back away slightly. "The trade went well, despite what you heard. The White Fang members who were there agreed to the deal and said they would pass the message along, Adam should be ours in a matter of days, if everything goes well."

"Then you better make sure everything goes well." Cinder says, walking towards Roman as he turns around to see her. "Because if it doesn't..." She says, creating a bow from part of her clothes in an instant and firing to hit the cross Emerald drew on the map. "Every second you wasted will be repaid in full." She says as the arrow disappears. Emerald begins laughing before Cinder goes up the stairs, leaving as quickly as she entered.

"What're you gunna do now?" Mercury asks Roman as Emerald continues to laugh until her head starts to hurt. Roman looks to him before looking back at the map, pointing to Mount Glen.

"Begin preparations."

* * *

 _After notes:_

 _This is the end of Volume 1, or what I'm calling volume 1 at least. I will be taking a bit of a break, well a bit being probably quite a while, but I will definitely be back. I have university stuff to do now as well as my writing that I want to get published, I think I mentioned it before. I'm sorry if this makes some people stop reading once I do continue this but please know, I appreciate all the support I get and I will be back, That's a promise._


	24. Bonus 1: Weaponsmith

Hello audience! I know I said the last chapter would be the last for a while but this is a bonus, I will be using these for some bonus information and character depth rather than having trailers every volume. These bonuses will take place in different times and won't contain any serious spoilers for anything later on. That being said, I will also introduce a new feature at the end of this chapter as well where I will respond to reviews I've got, since the reviews are one of the main reason I started posting on here in the first place, so if you want, stick around for Review Time with Jupiter!

* * *

Bonus 1: Weaponsmith

"Don't come in!" Judy yells to the person knocking on the door. Since starting at Signal, she had taken a few hours every day to lock herself away and work on her projects, making sure she doesn't get interrupted.

"I was just going to tell you that your time has been shortened this session." The smith says through the door. She rushes over and opens the door. The smith is a tall, muscular blonde man who stands feet above Judy, although this didn't intimidate her much when she was so angry.

"Again! Why this time!?" Judy asks.

"Most Signal students are starting to make their weapons this time of year, each student is limited to two hours per day." He explains.

"That's no time! How am I supposed to get my work done!" She complains as a group of students walks in, a busty blond girl being at the head of the group.

"I know, right!" The blonde girl says exaggeratedly, holding a receipt which Judy recognises as one from here. The receipt clearly says four hours on it and less than half the price that Judy paid for her four hours.

"What's that about!?" Judy accuses once the group are in a room. "They had four hours on theirs!"

"It's two hours per student." The smith explains.

"But I paid for four hours this morning, you can't just change your mind once I've paid for it!" Judy continues to complain. "Also, what's the price about? I pay way more than that!"

"You know, it's rude to look at other people's transactions without permission." The smith says, changing his tone after seeing Judy's seriously angry face. "They used the student discount."

"You never said anything about a student discount." Judy says trying to calm herself down.

"You never asked about it." The smith points out.

"This is my first year using your services, the last place I went to didn't have this restriction." Judy explains.

"Look, I'm not going to argue this with you anymore. We don't do refunds so if you want to use your two hours, then do, if not, leave." He says before returning to the front of the shop.

"Damnit." Judy mutters, slamming the door behind her. She looks over her blueprints quickly, not sure what to make, before picking up her bag. "What do you think, N8?" She asks. N8 processes for a few seconds before a noise starts to come from it.

"O... N... E..." N8 spells out in a male voice that she recognises. Judy looks at blueprint number one, knowing that N8 wasn't actually chosing anything, it was just a voice activated random number generator. The first blueprint was an upgrade for N8, which she knew she didn't have time to do.

"Repeat." Judy says, putting the bag on the only chair in the room.

"F... I... V... E..." N8 spells out again. Judy looks at number five in the line and picks it up.

"This, I can do." She says with forced enthusiasm. Beginning work, she first melts down some metal she had brought with her, knowing it would take a while to melt down, turning her attention to making the mould. They have a mould press there which is pay to use, she would usually use her own, but it takes too long to set up, so she settles with this one. She makes the basic mould quickly, making a small kite shield base, before making moulds for the smaller parts that make the shield fold in, like the hollow parts of the main shield for the others to fold into. Once the metal is melted, she separates it equally into two containers, adding red dye to one and silver dye to the other, before pouring the red liquid metal into each mould and focusing on finishing its creation.

"Phew, done." Judy sighs, wiping sweat off her head before checking the time on her scroll. "With... ten minutes left." She sighs again, this time in frustration. She pulls out her revolvers and lays them on the table. "Well, I should have time to finish attaching them." She says to herself. She had already modified her guns so that the shields could easily snap onto them, making sure that the red shield was attached to her left-handed gun and the silver one on her right. "I think I've gone as far as I can with Blood and Silver." Judy says. "I should really start a new project next time." She finishes.

"S... I... X..." N8 continues, Judy not realising it had been repeating to randomly spell out numbers since she gave it the repeat command.

"Stop loop." Judy sighs. N8 stops mid number and Judy picks it up. "And I really need to upgrade you buddy." She says, stroking the top of the bag. "I need to change that voice too, too many good memories." She says, holding back tears. She stays the in silence for a few minutes before someone knocks on the door. She quickly opens her the bag and throws all the stuff she brought in as the knocking continues. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going." She says as she swings the door open and leaving the room.

* * *

Review Time with Jupiter!

These first three reviews will be from earlier chapters but hopefully as I get more I will be responding to the more recent ones.

MercyChimes says "Dude or girly, have you seen how many OC teams of RWBY there are in this site. About hundreds to thousands of the same thing. I am not going to ward you off but make it interesting in your own terms. I read the first chapter before writing this. I admit you have talent into writing a structure for a fanfiction. It would help for the action to be a little more simpler and for the characters to be somewhat mysterious. Add a layer that one person could understand the character from the outside. Other than that, I hope you have some fun with this. Fanfictions could be fun to read and write so let me be your first follower. By MercyChimes" On chapter 1.

Thank you for the review, I appreciate it. I'm a dude in case you're wandering. I know about how many OC teams there are out there, in fact I read quite a few of them, but I think I have something I can add to the OC team category while creating a different tone for the RWBY story through those characters. I really like the fight scenes from volume 1 and 2 of the show and base a lot of my fight scenes around that, trying to make them fast paced and precise, although I can see the problem with that in writing and will try to simplify them a bit, no promises though, that's just my style. Thank you for the follow, I'll make sure to improve and keep you on your toes.

s3zgg says "Veri n1c336cst0rirU" and Ilm0M says "Veri n1c3Yq0st0ri16" both on chapter 1.

I put these two together because they kinda confuse me. I think they say "Very nice story" but I'm not completely sure, sorry if I can't respond properly.

I got the idea to do this from a writer on here I started reading a few weeks ago called Professor Writer, check them out. Their SLFR story is one I'm currently reading, I thought it started off a bit slow but picked up well once the OCs started getting more individuality from the main groups.


	25. Volume 1: Epilogue

Volume 1: Epilogue

"Are you going to be okay?" Artemis asks Luci as the team gather around his hospital bed. "It looked pretty bad after the fight, but you're looking a lot better now."

"Well, I still feel like hell." Luci replies. "Which is a step up from yesterday at least." Luci still can't sit up properly but tries to anyway, stopping once it starts to get painful. "It'll heal, so I'll be fine, it's not like I lost another arm." He jokes, not getting a laugh out of any of them. Judy hands him his can of TorchQuick before going and sitting next to him.

"Honestly, it's sad to see this from the other side." Judy says, looking down at her feet.

"You get used to it." Luci continues to joke.

"Agreed." Vak says unexpectedly, causing the others to turn to him in confusion. "Oh, no, I mean..." Vak stalls. "Sorry..." He says awkwardly. Judy checks her scroll before beginning to speak.

"Apparently they're covering it up." Judy says, scrolling through the recent news. "They're putting some new rules in place, but they're saying it's because of the visitors coming in for the Vytal Festival." Judy explains.

"Yeah, Ozpin told us not to tell anyone either." Artemis says. "Told us to pass the message on to you two; Dalos is telling the rest of team JADE."

"I thought so." Luci says. "They can't exactly let this get out so close to the festival, it's too risky. I don't like it, but it makes sense." He continues regretfully.

"They haven't said what the new rules are going to be, but I assume they're not going to be good." Judy says. "Probably some limits on students first, like making a proper curfew."

"I thought there was already a curfew." Artemis says, Vak looking just as confused.

"Not technically. You aren't allowed back onto the grounds past ten at night, but there's nothing saying you can't be out after that time." Judy explains. "They'll probably make everyone sign in and out first to make sure they know where all the students are. They might even limit weapon possession at some point." She speculates. "Which reminds me, what're you going to do about that?" She changes the subject, pointing to Vak's broken spear that he still has on his back.

"Hm? Oh right." Vak says distractedly. "I'll probably order another one from Atlas later, it's pretty expensive though."

"Great." Judy says sarcastically. "Getting another piece of mass-produced junk." She says, holding out her hand. Vak takes out the two pieces of his broken spear and hands it to Judy. After looking it over for a few seconds, she concludes. "This is garbage." She says to herself quietly before correcting herself. "I mean, worse than I thought it was." She says, giving it back to him. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, but just tell me what you want, and I'll make it for you, as long as you pay for the materials." She offers. Vak thinks it over for a second before answering.

"Sorry, I don't think I can..." Vak says, looking at Luci before quickly looking away once Luci notices. Judy goes to speak up, but Luci does before she can.

"Guys, I need some time alone to heal." Luci says. "Not to be rude, but can you get out?" He says. As they begin to leave, Luci calls out again. "Oh yeah, Vak." He says, getting their attention. "I need to talk to you for a second." Vak looks to Judy and Artemis, shrugging before going back into the room.

"What's up?" Vak asks awkwardly, almost sure of what he wants

"You know this is your fault, right?" Luci says to Vak's surprise. "If you hadn't ran off, I would be fine, and these new rules wouldn't be necessary." He continues. "Judy may not seem it, but she's an idealist. She thinks the new rules will be simple but doesn't think about how they'll affect us specifically. Any new rules will be enforced harder on us since we were involved, as well as team JADE since they were involved as well. They'll probably be more specific once they figure out the White Fang are involved."

"The White Fang?" Vak asks. "You mean the people in masks? How do you know they were involved?"

"When you've been on the streets as long as me, you recognise group symbols." Luci lied. "The masks are part of their uniform." He explains. "Either way, the rules will probably effect faunus the most, so what you've done is a net-negative for them as well." Luci points out. "What do you care about?"

"What do I care about?" Vak says, slightly annoyed. "I care about protecting the weak."

"Admirable, but unreasonable." Luci says, annoying Vak even more. "How do you figure out who the weak are? Velvet didn't want the help, and she sure isn't weak."

"I get it!" Vak says, raising his voice. "I screwed up! I got everyone in trouble! But at least I did something! If I did nothing, Cardin would have kept bullying people. From how it sounds, I might have changed him for the better." Vak points out. "Team CRDL could have died if we weren't there."

"Do you think it's worth it?" Luci continues his assault.

"Of course it was!" Vak answers angrily. "Do you think it would have been better if they died!"

"Then do you think my injuries were worth saving them?" Luci asks. Vak goes to answer before stopping himself, giving Luci answer enough. "If you do, then why do you feel bad?" He continues, not getting an answer. "I'm not mad at you for trying to help, in different circumstances I may have done the same, but I am annoyed that you ran off alone." Luci explains, making Vak feel even worse. "Not for my sake, but for Judy's. She's our leader, if you start running off to do stupid things, it makes her feel like she's failed, and makes the whole team look bad." He continues. "Promise you won't do it again." Luci demands.

"Right... I'm sorry, I won't do that again." He apologizes for the first time.

"Good." Luci says, taking on a much light-hearted tone. "Now, stop holding back on my account." He says, confusing Vak. "Judy offered to make you a weapon, do you not want it?" Vak doesn't have a chance to answer before Luci continues. "She won't keep the offer open forever, she even charged me commission to upgrade my knife, I would catch up to her if I was you." He says, lying back down. Vak hesitates but smiles after, walking back out of the door.

"... Thanks." Vak says hesitantly before running off the catch up with Judy and Artemis.

"Now, to figure out how to follow my own advice." Luci says to himself with a sigh, reaching for his TorchQuick and taking a large gulp, forcing himself to swallow it down. "Next time we meet, you're dead."

* * *

I was going to make this another bonus chapter but thought it worked better as an epilogue since it wraps up a few loose ends from the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed my volume 1 and look forward to volume 2, probably starting sooner than even I expected at this rate since I've been working on these between chapters of my book.


	26. Volume 2: Re-introduction: End of Term

**Volume 2: JAVL**

Re-introduction: End of Term

"What's this about?" Luci asks Judy as she drags him out of their dorm room with one hand and carrying a bag in the other. Summer was only just ending but the temperature was dropping fast this year, forcing both Luci and Judy to wear warmer clothes, Luci buttoning up his trench coat and putting a beanie hat on and Judy wearing a bright dark orange scarf and a bright yellow jacket.

"It's our last chance to get some practice in." Judy replies. "Plus, Blood and Silver need a good sendoff."

"I still don't know why you named them that." Luci says.

"Isn't it obvious?" Judy asks. "I'm a hunter and a weaponsmith, I work with blood and silver."

"You barely work with silver though." Luci points out.

"The first thing I ever made was silver." She explains. "It was a necklace, it was actually pretty cool, I lost it a while ago though." She finishes as they finally make it outside, where Artemis and Vak were waiting.

"Took you long enough." Artemis complains before turning to look at them. "What... the hell are you wearing?" She asks, pointing at Luci. He looked down to see what she was talking about, forgetting they hadn't seen his other trench coat yet.

"It's just a coat." Luci points out.

"I didn't even know they made white trench coats." Vak says while Artemis holds back laughter. Vak hasn't changed his usual attire much for winter, simply throwing on a light blue hoodie over his sleeveless shirt. Looking closer Judy notices the Aesir Corporation logo on the left side of the chest.

"You look so weird." Artemis says between muffled laughs. For the last few days she had stopped wearing her usual shorts, replacing them with the brown cargo trousers, as well as wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt, seeming to be less effected by the cold than the rest of them.

"What do you mean? I usually wear stuff like this." Luci says, getting slightly embarrassed but managing to not show it.

"You usually look so... edgy." Vak says, not sure how to word it in a good way. "The white... really brings out your eyes..." He manages to get out before snickering to himself. Luci looks to Judy, who looks at him with a smile. As soon as he turns away, she covers her mouth to stop her giggles from getting out, mostly giggling at Artemis' and Vak's reaction.

"Look, it's not my fault." Luci says. "My other one got damaged in the fight with Torchwick, it'll be fixed before next term begins." He pouts.

"No, no." Vak says. "It doesn't look bad, it's just... you know... we're not used to it." Luci sighs and they begin to walk side by side.

"Where are we going anyway?" Luci asks. "Did you book one of the arenas?"

"Well..." Judy hesitates. "Not exactly?" She says, looking him in the eyes. "Promise you won't be mad."

Luci turns to Vak. "What did she do?" He asks. Vak sighs and pulls out his scroll, showing Luci a picture of the academy map.

"Since we're not allowed to have duels without a teacher present and most of the teachers are busy over break, we couldn't get permission." Vak explains. "But, according to the map, there's an arena way at the back of this hallway here." He says pointing to a room at the back end of the school.

"I scouted it out." Artemis says as the enter the school building. "None of the teachers have been back there for a week, I don't think we'll get caught. Plus, Apollo will be there to keep an eye out."

"I already told you guys-" Luci begins.

"That's the weird thing." Judy interrupts. "The room has no cameras. I scanned the whole thing and I didn't pick up anything, it's probably one of the few rooms in the whole school, I just can't figure out why." She says, giving Luci a smile. "Either way, it means we can use it."

* * *

"Hello!" Artemis shouts in the room, causing an echo. The room is much bigger than Luci expected, although he's not completely sure what the room is used for. There is a large circular platform in the middle, which looks like a larger version of the usual arenas they use in classes, but there's no seating at all, as well as a strange circular hole in the center of the arena.

"Don't be so loud, someone might find us." Apollo says, leaning on the wall across the room while reading his book. He has a similar attire to Artemis, although he's still wearing his uniform blazer despite classes ending a few days ago. "That door is usually locked, if they hear any noise in here then someone will check it out."

"How did we get in if the door was locked?" Luci asks accusingly. Nixi's camera pops out of her bag and she begins to talk.

"I helped with that." Nixi says. "Judy installed me with a locksmithing program a while ago for-"

"That's enough, thanks N9." Judy interrupts.

"For what?" Luci asks.

Judy pauses for a second before answering. "To break into the weapon maintenance rooms." She says defeatedly. "That was before my equipment got here, I didn't really have a choice."

"You could have waited." Luci says. "You can't get in trouble. No more breaking the rules, okay?" He says, looking her in the eyes sternly. Judy looks away, embarrassed.

"Fine." Judy replies. Artemis rolls her eyes at them before grabbing them both by the hands and leading them over to the arena.

"You can have your soap opera later, right now, we have to get this started." Artemis says, walking them up onto the arena.

"What are the teams?" Judy asks, stopping Artemis as they reach the middle.

"Why? Aren't we doing a free-for-all?" Vak asks.

"That would be unfair on Artemis." Judy points out. "I can fight alone thanks to N9, but Artemis needs a partner."

"Well, how can we separate it then?" Vak asks.

"You could do it by the place you live?" Apollo says. "We're from up Mistral way, Vak's from Atlas and Judy and Luci are from Vale, that would make it Vale verses Atlas and Mistral."

"Actually, I'm from Vacuo." Judy points out. "If we're doing it like that then we could have it like a Great War reenactment, Vacuo and Vale verses Mantle and Mistral." Everyone shrugs at this, seeming to accept it, before getting to their sides of the arena. They all pull out their weapons, although Luci notices that Vak's looks different now.

"Why's Vak got two spears?" Luci asks.

"One's a spear and the other's a voulge, pole cleaver." She says. "There are a few other surprises for you too." She finishes before firing a shot in the air.

Immediately Artemis and Judy get into position, Artemis jumping back and drawing her bow while Nixi lifts Judy into the air, like she's on stilts, as she begins to fire on Vak, who rushes forwards. Luci quickly catches on, pulling out his knife and flipping over Vak as he takes his first swing with the voulge. As soon as Luci lands, he is hit in the back of the head by the pole of Vak's spear before rolling out of the way of an arrow. Luci gets up half way before beginning to sprint towards Artemis before he hears metal clash onto the floor, looking back to see another one of Nixi's arms stab into the floor as her forth arm pops out with a spinning sawblade attachment. The forth arm strikes Vak while he prepares to take down the other arm. As soon as Vak is hit, he drops his spear and grabs the sawblade with his hand, trying to stop it but instead breaking some of his aura before he strikes the arm midway up with his vouge to break it in half.

While Luci is distracted, Artemis fires another shot at him and he panics, blocking it with his left arm and causing both the arrow and his prosthetic arm to break. He quickly tears off the prosthetic as he dodges left and right and continues to run towards Artemis, approaching much faster than she expected. He stabs at her with his knife. As she dodges the first strike, Luci knees her in the stomach. She quickly puts her bow around his leg to trip him as she's sent tumbling across the arena before Judy takes a few shots, hitting her three times but missing most of the shots since Vak keeps targeting Nixi's arms, making the platform unstable for her to shoot. Artemis recovers with a roll as she prepares another arrow, catching Luci off guard as he stands up and getting a direct hit on his head, breaking his aura.

"Wow, your aura sucks." Artemis says before preparing another arrow and targeting Judy.

"I'm not out till you take me down." Luci says with a smile on his face as he continues his assault.

"We're doing tournament rules now!?" Artemis says, turning back to him too late as he feigns with his knife, instead stabbing with the spike on his left arm, breaking her aura and sending her flying off the platform. Before she hits the ground, she readies a final arrow, firing to hit Luci's knife but instead scraping across his hand, causing him to drop the knife anyway. "His knife!" Artemis yells, getting Vak's attention.

Luci goes to pick up his knife as he runs past but is suddenly hit with the blunt end of Vak's spear, knocking him back as Vak rushes for the knife as well, but Luci dashes back towards it quickly. Luci quickly stabs at Vak with his spike, but he dodges it easily, leaving him open to a second attack. Luci quickly stamps on the end of the voulge, forcing it into the floor, but Vak expects it. Suddenly the voulge separates in two, the two halves only connected by a string, before he quickly pulls the blunt half up, striking Luci in the nose before taking a shot to the back of the head, taking his aura down only slightly, before he lifts the half of the voulge he has in his hand up higher, pulling the other half out of the ground. He swings it, causing the cleaver end to go around Luci as he's stunned from the recent attack. As the cleaver ended half reaches Vak again, the string seeming to get longer, he pushes a button on the blunt end before grabbing the cleaver end, the string suddenly shortening and tripping Luci backwards.

As soon as Vak goes for the knife again, Judy strikes him from behind with the tip of Blood's shield, taking Vak's aura down but not fazing him much as he picks up the knife and swings it at her, causing Nixi to jump back.

"Drop-" Judy begins in a panic before spikes suddenly emerge from the knife handle in all directions, suddenly breaking Vak's aura and stabbing into his hand before he drops it with a yelp of pain.

Vak shakes it off quickly and begins rushing towards Judy again. Judy reacts too fast and shoots Vak in the leg, taking him down as he runs.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" Judy yells, getting back onto solid ground as fast as she can before her and Artemis begin running over to Vak and Luci recovers his knife.

* * *

"You could have told us about that!" Artemis yells at Luci as they all recover, hanging their feet off the dorm roof.

"Sorry, it's a security system, there wouldn't be much point if I told everyone about it." Luci replies. "Is your hand okay?" Luci asks Vak.

"Yeah, it's healed already, don't worry." Vak answers.

"It was my fault as well." Judy says, hanging her head. "I'm the one that made that feature, I should have told you about it."

"I said don't worry about it didn't I?" Vak says. "Besides, it's a pretty neat idea." He continues. "It breaks the aura by using the aura against itself, I guess."

"Yeah, that's the idea." Judy confirms. "It reads your fingerprints and if they're not Luci's then the spikes shoot out. If you have aura, then there's nowhere for the knife to go so it just keeps hitting both sides of your hand." She explains simply. "At least we know it works now."

"You didn't even know if it worked?!" Artemis says.

"Well, yeah. Who would we have tested it on?" Luci asks. Artemis tries to think of an answer but doesn't come up with one, leaving them in an awkward silence.

"I guess we won't see each other for a few weeks, huh?" Vak says.

"Yeah, I guess so." Luci says. "Me and Judy are staying here over the holiday, what about you?"

"Me and Apollo are going home tomorrow." Artemis says. "Mom and dad are probably missing us by now."

"Yeah, same." Vak says. "Well, not home, but back to Atlas. I think everyone in JADE has left except Apollo as well, are you two going to be okay?" He asks.

"As long as we don't get caught for breaking into that room." Luci says.

"It's not going to be hard for Ozpin to find you." Artemis says, causing everyone to be confused. "You stand out with the coat on." She says nonchelauntly. Everyone begins to laugh, even Luci giving a small chuckle.

"I'm gunna miss you too." Luci says.


	27. Volume 2: Chapter 1: Back to School

Chapter 1: Back to School

Luci lies on his bed, looking up at the ceiling and counting the cracks, while Judy hammers away at her next creation, only stopping to make sure her hardhat and goggles are secured. Luci knew this would happen once her tools were finally delivered, but he's still disappointed that she hadn't said anything all day.

"You know what?" Luci says, and Judy doesn't listen. "I'm bored."

"Artemis is coming back today." Judy replies, not looking up from her work.

"How do you know that?" Luci asks before the door is kicked open and he dodges a bag as it comes flying at his face.

"Because she called me earlier." Judy answers nonchalantly. Artemis enters the room and goes and lies down on her bed, holding her hand out to Luci.

"Pass me my bag." Artemis says.

"Why did you throw it at me anyway?" Luci asks, complying with her demand anyway.

"Seeing your face again annoyed me." She replies, reaching into the thin sack before handing him something. Luci looks at it before realizing what it is, looking at her in confusion. "I would have felt bad getting everyone else something and leaving you out." She explains, reaching into the bag again and holding another object out to Judy, who leaves Artemis hanging until she puts it on Judy's bed.

"Rock." Nixi says suddenly after analyzing the object, surprising Artemis and causing her to drop the bag as she reaches for her bow. "Precisely, Misty Beach brand rock stick, green." She continues, moving on to Judy's present. "Misty Beach brand rock stick, red."

"Please don't do that." Artemis says, calming down once she realises what it is.

"Apologies." Nixi says. "I will restrain myself in the future."

"Thanks. By the way, Apollo said Jayce wanted to speak with you but couldn't find you anywhere." Artemis says. "Are you two fighting or something?"

"No, it's more that he's trying to find Judy." Luci says, lying back down.

Artemis looks shocked. "I didn't think those two would get along."

"Don't ask me." Luci responds. "Every time we talk, he just asks where Judy is, but she doesn't want me to tell him."

"They have talked a number of times since he returned." Nixi says. "Would you like to hear a recording?"

"Delete all those recordings." Judy says, still working.

"Recordings deleted." Nixi confirms. Artemis looks shocked again while Luci sits up with a small smirk on his face.

"Dirty secrets?" Luci jokes. "I didn't know you were into guys like that."

"It's not like that, I just don't want you invading my privacy." Judy replies, finally turning to look at them and taking off her goggles, leaving them to hang around her neck.

Luci kicks up off the bed. "Well, I'm going to look around and see who's here, Vak should be back soon anyway. You coming, Arty?" Luci asks.

"Call me that again and you'll need to get another dumb colored coat." Artemis bites back, grabbing her bag and putting it over her shoulder. "I might as well, I need to give Dalos and Eyuno their presents anyway. Judy, are you coming?"

"I need to finish this commission, if you see Jayce, just tell him to come back tomorrow." Judy replies, putting her goggles back on and beginning to weld, making it clear that the only reason she stopped was to wait for her welder to heat up. "You can take N9 if you want, I'm done with her maintenance already." She finishes, waving them off. Luci shrugs and picks Nixi up by the straps, lifting her up with some effort before putting her on his back.

* * *

Vak looks out of the window, watching the clouds fly past him, imagining this must be how his brother felt. The light blue sky reflects off his similarly colored eyes as he looks down slightly, noticing the Beacon tower as he passes over it.

"Are you doing okay?" His pilot asks, interrupting his train of thought. "I mean, you haven't visited for a while, but you seemed bored while you were there."

Vak puts on his best smile before responding. "Aria still doesn't really know what's going on, so I couldn't talk about it much. Has everything been okay while I've been gone, Radia?" Radia Lamentina puts the ship onto auto-pilot while it parks and turns to talk to Vak.

"Can't really complain. Aria's the same as ever and... well... you know my parents; they're probably home less than you nowadays." Radia laughs to himself. "You really need to get this marriage sorted out." He says in a much more serious tone. "I can get you the money you need for the moment, but if anyone finds out I'm just going to end up in the same situation as you. Once you're part of the family then we can support you properly." He explains, although this is probably the fourth time Vak's heard this suggestion since the break started.

"Sorry, I can't do that to you." Vak says. "I'm not risking your family's reputation for my own needs. Don't worry, I'll get a job if I need to."

Radia sighs. "Then at least take this." He says, taking a card out of his pocket. "Even now, you have friends in high places, high enough at least." Vak looks down at the card and notices it's a business card. The front of it clearly has the Schnee Dust Company logo on it but more noticeably there's a number written on the back, clearly the number for a scroll.

"Is this your plan for stopping me from marrying your sister? Hooking me up with a Schnee?" Vak jokes, putting the card in his pocket.

"Weiss visited a few times over the break, her and Aria aren't as close anymore, but she still comes over from time to time." Radia explains. "She didn't mention you at all though, did something happen?"

"You already know what happened." Vak says calmly before standing up as the ship finally touches down in front of the academy.

"Yeah, yeah." Radia says, spinning his chair back around as he prepares to take off again. "I'm in a hurry, get off my ship before I decide to fly you back to Atlas." He retorts.

"Already going." Vak says, climbing out of the ship and planting his feet on the ground just before the ship takes off again. "Thanks dude!" He yells up to Radia before it speeds off into the distance.

"Riding in style, huh?" Luci says as he slaps Vak on the back.

"Everything I do is in style." Vak retorts before a blue stick of rock appears in front of his face, held by Artemis. "Well, I'm flattered, but not interested." He says.

"Just take it, I've already had enough trouble with this one." Artemis sighs, elbowing Luci lightly in the side. "How's life in Atlas?" She asks. "Mistral is just as boring as ever, in case you were wandering. Basically, imagine small villages with nothing interesting in them between vast expanses of nothing."

"Atlas is the same, I mean, not really, but it's just as boring, nothing interesting is really going on there over breaks." Vak explains. "I heard they had some events and stuff going on here at least to keep the students occupied."

"Yeah, we didn't go to any though." Luci says. "Judy got a few commissions at the end of term, so she's been working on them most of the break."

"Then why didn't you just go alone?" Vak asks.

"I-" Luci begins before stopping himself. "Would have been bored anyway." He says with a slight blush on his face.

"Aww, you would have been lonely." Artemis teases. "That's so cute!" She continues, poking his cheek as she giggles, causing Vak to join in on the fun as well.

Vak continues the conversation once their laughter dies down. "Why didn't you go with someone else at least?" He asks genuinely. "I'm sure there must have been more people here than just you two."

"There were." Luci says, looking around to make sure none of them are there. "Velvet invited me a couple of times, but I don't really know the rest of her team very well, none of team JADE stayed and the only other person I know of who stayed was Pyrrha Nikos and it's not like I can just walk up and talk to her." He rants. As he looks over the other two's shoulders, he notices two other people waiting near the landing area.

He knows them both by name but all he can think when he sees them is that they're Qrow's nieces, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. He knows they hadn't stayed over the break, with how much they stand out he would have noticed, so they must have come back earlier today. As Luci watches, an Atlas airship flies over, slowly descending onto the landing platform as Ruby jumps up and down excitedly while Yang tries to calm her down, seeming to lead into a small argument before the ship doors open. A white-haired girl comes out of the door wheeling a small white suitcase behind her before Ruby tackles her in a flash, sending the case flying and leaving Yang to catch it before it crashes to the ground. Luci looks back to Vak and Artemis to continue the conversation, but Vak seems to have been watching more intently that him, not taking his eyes away as the ship takes off again.

"Vak?" Artemis says, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Hmm? Sorry, did you say something?" Vak asks, finally taking his eyes off the three girls.

"That's Weiss Schnee, right?" Luci asks. "You know her, don't you?"

"I used to..." He says, getting distracted again. "I haven't spoken to her in years though."

"Wait, Schnee as in Schnee Dust-?" Artemis begins.

"Yes." Luci interrupts.

"How do you know someone like that?" Artemis continues to question. "Apollo talks about them all the time, they're like, the biggest dust traders, right?"

"She's... my childhood friend, I guess." Vak answers awkwardly. "We went to the same school when we were kids, most of the high ranked families in Atlas know each other a little bit." He explains.

"How come you haven't spoke to her then? We can sit with her team from now on if you want." Luci offers, partly with the intention of getting closer to Qrow's nieces.

"I don't think she wants to talk to me." Vak says. "I wouldn't blame her, that's how it works in Atlas." He says, thinking about the card Radia gave him. He looks back to see if they're still there and they're walking away, Weiss looking back at him quickly before turning back and talking to her team.

"Now that I think about it..." Luci begins. "That other girl on their team stayed here too, the quiet, black haired one."

"I don't remember someone like that." Artemis says.

"You're surprisingly unobservant for an archer." Luci mocks. Another airship flies overhead, this one looking much less technological than the Atlas ones before. "It's a pretty busy day..." Luci observes.

"Correct." Nixi chimes in, making sure not to make too much noise. "At least ten ships have visited the academy today. This one seems to be a student transport from Haven academy, judging by the Mistral technology." She continues.

"Yeah, I came in on a ship like that, they come every few hours." Artemis explains. The ship lands in the same spot as the last one, the doors opening as the propellers stop. "If you want a look at the competition, this is a good chance." She says, pointing to the door at the back of the ship. "Students will probably be coming out of that door." She explains.

As she says this, students in the Haven uniform begin to exit the ship, although there are a lot less than they expected after Nixi's explanation. Four students dressed in uniform exit the ship and Luci goes silence as a student with similarly colored skin to him steps out. The fourth student turns her head and looks at him, her red eyes seeming to pierce through him as her green hair waves in the breeze.


	28. Volume 2: Chapter 2: Night Training

Chapter 2: Night Training

Luci lies down on the grass in the courtyard, not sure what he should do for now. Judy is still working on her project in one of the weapon maintenance rooms, even though first class starts in a few hours. Artemis and Vak are both asleep and Luci didn't want to wake them up, so took Nixi with him on his morning exercise.

"Are you okay?" Nixi says from beside him. "You've been extending your exercise routine and making it much more intense since Vak and Artemis returned, are you trying to impress them?"

"I don't know where you got that idea." Luci says, sitting up and taking a drink. "If I was trying to impress them, I would let them know I'm doing this, right?"

"You didn't answer the question." Nixi points out. "I know you want to keep this private, but my main priority is protecting Judy, even against her and your orders. If your start becoming unable to fight because of exhaustion, I will have to tell Judy."

"You know that won't happen." Luci says.

"Then answer the question." Nixi continues. "If you don't, I'll have to assume you cannot be trusted."

Luci sighs. "I don't know, it's not something I can explain simply..." He begins. "Do you remember the girl with the green hair?"

"Yes, you requested I do some research on her. She's a Haven student named Emerald, part of team MESN (Messan), other than that there's not really anything important I can find about her with our access." Nixi replies rapid fire. "Is this part of an answer to my question?"

"I guess. I don't know how to explain it but since I saw her, I haven't been able to sleep." Luci explains. "And then I ask myself if I'm ready for anything that could happen and the answer is always no. I don't know if this will help me be ready, but I have to try, or I won't be ready for anything." He finishes, pausing before laying back down. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, thank you." Nixi says. "Suspicious figure at twelve o'clock." Luci kicks himself up, pulling out his knife in the process, before turning to look down the path away from the academy. He recognizes the figure almost instantly, but she doesn't seem to recognize him as he hears a click of her guns loading before a firing notice marks her charge towards him.

Fire comes out of her gauntlets behind her, shooting her towards Luci as he puts his arms up to defend, knowing he won't have time to dodge as he tries to shout over her shotgun fire. As she punches his arm, he goes to grab hers to try and explain to her, but as soon as he has a hold of her, she swings her arm to the right, throwing him a few feet away, using her gauntlets to give the throw a boost. Luci gets up and throws his hands up, seeming to not get the message across the her as she charges in for another punch. Luci ducks under the next punch only to get a knee to the face and sent tumbling back, realizing he's dropped his knife somewhere along the way before seeing it planted in the ground a few meters away. The girl cocks her shotgun gauntlets, seeming to ready for a firing barrage but giving Luci a moment of quiet to get her attention.

"Yang!" Luci yells, seeming to stop her next attack for long enough for him to continues. "I'm a student!" He says. Yang slowly lowers her gauntlets as she looks him over.

"Oh yeah." Yang says, putting the gauntlets back in their smaller forms. "Sorry, I didn't recognize the uniform in the moment." She laughs. "But how do you know my name? Are you in my class or something?"

"Yes, I am." Luci says with a sigh. "I've been in the same classes as you since our first year at Signal."

"Hmm..." Yang thinks. "Hmm..." She thinks harder. "Your name... is..."

"You don't know my name." Luci points out.

"Oh, that's fine then." Yang says, holding her hand out. "Hi, I'm Yang."

"I'm..." Luci begins, realizing that giving his fake name now would probably be pointless since it's read out every class for register. "Luci." He says, going to give her a hand shake but she instead gives him a high-five.

"Oh, that's cute." Yang says kindly, not realizing how much it embarrasses him. "I think I've heard it somewhere before..." She says, thinking again.

"We're in the same class." Luci points out again.

"I know, you just told me that." Yang says, looking at him confused, noticing the green stripe in his hair and clapping her hands together. "Right, uncle Qrow!" She says with excitement, causing Luci a slight shock.

"Qrow told you about me?" He asks, excited at the idea.

"Not really." Yang says, depressing Luci's mood without realizing. "I mean, he told me he would be taking care of you for a while, but he didn't say much more than what you looked like, and that was years ago so I kinda forgot." She continues. "Wait, were you the kid who got kicked out last year?" She asks.

"Yeah, that was me." Luci says. "How do you know about that though?"

"Well, it was in the Signal newsletter the day after, I didn't read it, but my sister told me about it." She explains. Luci goes to ask about Ruby but isn't sure if it would make it sound creepy and while he's debating in his head whether to ask, Yang continues. "By the way, what're you doing out here? It's against the rules to be out this early." Luci checks his scroll quickly, realizing he hadn't looked at the time since he left the room at three o'clock; seeing that it was half four now.

"Training." He says simply. "What about you?"

Yang giggles slightly. "Same reason as you, you don't look this good without some training." She says half-jokingly, sitting down on the grass next to Nixi. "Ruby would worry if she knew I was out this early, but I don't want her to come with me in case I get caught."

"That sucks." Luci says, sitting down next to her. "The new rules suck, anyone who wants to hurt us will just attack the dorms anyway if we're all in there." He says, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, but Oz knows what he's doing." She says.

"I bet." Luci replies sarcastically, knowing the Ozpin is probably watching them anyway. "By the way, you're a lot stronger than I thought you would be." He changes the subject, stretching out the arm that got hit in the fight. "I knew you would be able to beat me in pure strength, but I thought I'd be able to hold my own at least."

"Nah, no need to flatter, I can tell you weren't trying, you didn't even throw an attack the whole fight." Yang says. "In a proper fight, I'm sure we could have some fun at least." She says, giving cocky smile. Luci smiles back, grabbing his water and taking a swig before offering it to Yang. "Thanks." She says, taking it and drinking the rest, handing the empty bottle to him. "What's the bag about by the way?" She asks. "It's that girl... Judy, right? Isn't it hers? I've seen her using it in fights."

"Yeah, she's my team leader." Luci answers. "Judy lets us borrow her whenever we want." He says, putting his hand on the backpack almost like he's petting it.

"Her?" Yang asks. Luci's eyes widen, only now realizing what he'd said. His first instinct is to run, but he knows he won't be able to outrun Yang if she tries to chase him. Second instinct, panic. Panicking is always a good way to find quick solutions.

"Right, well, you know girls, always naming and personifying inanimate objects and stuff, Judy just calls her a she, so it must have rubbed off on me." Luci says in rapid-fire while laughing nervously. Yang blinks at him, not sure how to respond, but ends up just laughing.

"You're a funny guy." She says. "I kinda feel bad I didn't get to know you sooner now." She stands up in one motion before turning back to him. "Well, we can't just sit around forever, no rest for the wicked, right?" She says, offering her hand to help him up, which he ignores, standing up on his own.

"Right." He says, picking up Nixi before throwing her on his back, almost forgetting how heavy she is, before beginning to run his laps around the courtyard again, now with Yang following next to him.

* * *

Luci and Judy yawn loudly in unison. "Keep at that and we could get a choir going." Artemis joke as the team make their way towards class.

"You two really need to get more sleep." Vak says with concern.

"I've finished my last commission, don't worry, no more late nights for a while." She says, taking a small cylinder off her belt. "I had it ready a while ago, but I knew I could do better, so I had to delay it." She explains, taking hold of the cylinder as the top and bottom pop out to make a long staff, seeming to brush off her tiredness as she admires her handiwork. "See, the paint job makes it look like bamboo but if you touch it..." She says as she begins to poke it. "It's actually a tempered titanium alloy. It's tough but..." She continues, trailing off as she begins to fall behind them.

"And what were you doing?" Artemis asks Luci as he yawns again. "Some secret rendezvous with a fair maiden, right?" She mocks, jabbing her elbow into him.

"That's a big word, did Vak teach it to you?" Luci shoots back, thinking it would get under her skin but instead just causing her to laugh.

"I can't take you seriously with that look." She laughs. "You're practically asleep!"

"Seriously, are you alright? You can skip class if you want to get some rest." Vak says genuinely.

"I'm fine, seriously, don't worry about me." Luci says, waving him off.

"Yeah, this sounds healthy." Artemis says.

"Shut up." Luci says, looking back to Judy. "Judy, we're nearly there, put that away."

"And then you press this button." She says, pressing a button on the end of the staff, seeming to make the staff wider as the other end opens like a hatch and a trigger pops out at the middle. "Now, if I pull the trigger..." She says, reaching for the trigger.

"Wait, stop!" Luci yells, reaching for her hand as the trigger clicks.

"A rocket would launch out of the end. It's not loaded obviously, you have to load it after transformation." She says, pressing the button again to change it back into a staff, then back into the small cylinder to put back on her belt. "Sorry, did you say something?" She says with a clueless look on her face as Luci stops suddenly, nearly tripping, with a heavy sigh.

"It's nothing." Luci sighs. "We're almost there so make sure you're awa-" He begins to lecture before cutting himself off with another yawn. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." Artemis says, knowing it's directed at her. Judy looks back and forth between them before turning to Vak with a confused look on her face.

"What happened?" Judy asks.

Vak sighs, covering his face with his hand. "Same as always."

"Artemis started a fight again?" Judy continues.

"I don't usually start the fights!" Artemis points out.

Judy looks over at her questioningly. "But did you this time?" She asks pointedly. Artemis goes to retort before realising she was the one who started it.

"W- well..." Artemis stalls awkwardly. Luci sighs heavily, turning back towards the classroom.

"It doesn't matter, let's just go." He says, walking on ahead of them.

"Wow, I've never seen him like this." Vak says.

"Me neither." Artemis says. "It's pretty funny though." Judy watches him walk for a few seconds more, wanting to see if he would wait for them, but when he got to the end of the corridor, he turned the corner to the classroom, not slowing down at all.

Judy grabs Artemis' and Vak's sleeves. "Something's wrong."


	29. Volume 2: Chapter 3: Paranoia

Chapter 3: Paranoia

"Hey guys, what's..." Dalos begins as he notices the two face down on the table. "Is he okay?" He asks, pointing to Luci.

"He'll be fine." Artemis says, taking a bite out of her sandwich "How are you guys doing?" She asks as team JADE slump down across from them, except for Dalos who seems as cheery as ever. "Are you still upset about what happened in class?"

"Of course." Apollo says, taking out a book Artemis knows he had already read. "I thought one of us would be able to beat her at least." He continues in a huff, looking across the room at Pyrrha Nikos.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this angry before." Artemis says. Apollo looks surprised as she says this, clearly forcing himself to calm down.

"Look on the bright side." Apollo says to himself like a mantra. "It's an interesting story at least."

"There's no need to feel down about this, it's just a learning-" Jayce begins before Eyuno lets out a frustrated growl and slams her elbows on the table.

"This is crap! How could she win so easily! It's unfair!" Eyuno complains to everyone except Dalos' shock.

"Everyone can hear you." Dalos says as Luci and Judy wake up. Eyuno looks up, looking around and sees the people around them looking at her before looking away as she begins scanning the room. She looks back down in embarrassment before beginning to mumble to herself.

"What's going on?" Luci asks as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes. "Is lunch over already?" Artemis and Vak sigh.

"So anyway, how are you doing?" Vak asks team JADE. "Having a hard time getting used to the new rules?"

"I haven't really noticed them." Apollo says.

"That's because there aren't any new rules about borrowing books." Artemis jokes. "We can't even go exploring at night anymore, it's unfair."

"When have you ever gone night exploring?" Vak asks.

"I did it for the whole first week here. I can't get used to places unless I know everything about them." She explains, to which Apollo and Dalos nod in agreement.

"I'm more annoyed about the no semblance rule." Dalos says. "It's easy for all of you, but what about me? Most of my pranks need my semblance to work!" He says with forced panic in his voice. Vak looks down and starts fiddling with the can in his hand, hearing Eyuno nudge Dalos and shush him. Vak looks up and sees them looking at him before looking away awkwardly.

"Oh, don't worry about me." Vak says. "I don't really mind not having a semblance... not too much anyway."

"From what I've seen, you don't need one." Jayce says, getting everyone's attention. "You're a great fighter without one, you've only lost one fight in class so far."

"Wait, what?" Luci asks in confusion. "Did you lose a fight while I was recovering?"

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you that." Judy says, rubbing her eyes.

"What do you mean "we"? You were supposed to tell him." Artemis points out, which Judy ignores.

"Just before the end of the year, Vak challenged Pyrrha to a duel." Judy explains. "She didn't even get a scratch on her aura, although Vak did run the timer down quite a bit."

"She still hasn't lost a fight." Vak says. "Now it's only her, Yang Xiao Long, Nora Valkyrie and you, technically, although you've only had one duel." He continues. "You know Yang, right?"

"Not very well." Luci says with a yawn, being reminded about how early he was up this morning. "We were in the same class at Signal, but she didn't remember me at all."

"Didn't?" Judy asks, stopping as she was about to take a drink. Luci looks at her confused before realizing his slipup.

"Right... we ran into each other yesterday and got talking, she doesn't remember me though." Luci says, his tiredness making it a bit easier to act casually. Judy looks into his eyes and he looks back in surprise before noticing her eyes darting around, quickly turning away. "I told you to stop doing that." He says through his teeth, grabbing his drink before chugging what's left in the can.

"And you said you wouldn't lie to me." Judy bites back. "I'm right here, if something's wrong-"

"I'm fine." Luci interrupts, sending them into an awkward silence.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Judy continues to ask as Artemis and Vak trail along behind them.

"I already told you, I'm fine." Luci continues to argue.

"Then why are you lying?"

"I told you, I'm not!"

"Then let me see!" Judy says, grabbing his shoulder to turn him around. He quickly moves his shoulder out of the way, almost causing her to fall over.

"I'm not letting you analyze me, that's not how this works!" Luci says, getting angrier. "You can't force me to tell you anything you want just because you're the team leader!"

"You know that's not what this is about!" Judy shouts.

"What should we do?" Artemis whispers to Vak as Judy and Luci continue their argument loop.

"I don't know, I've never been good at relationship drama." Vak answers. "We should probably say something before they start fighting or something."

"I don't think they're going to hurt each other... but yeah, we should probably split them up somehow." Artemis says, speeding up to catch up with them. "Hey Judy, I-"

"Artemis, answer something for me." Luci cuts in. "Would you say it's pretty cruel to use your semblance to tell if someone's telling the truth while telling them to trust you?" Artemis is flustered by the question and babbles for a second, giving Judy time to respond.

"Do you think a good person would lie to their friend, potentially putting them in danger, after promising to never lie to them?" Judy asks. Artemis weighs her options before deciding her next move, putting her hands on Luci's shoulders and pushing him left at the next possible turn.

"Hey, let's go check out some of the second-year fights, it'd be a good idea to see the competition for the Vytal Tournament, right?" She blurts out all at once, distraction Luci for long enough to get him away from Judy. Judy is confused for a second before looking back to Vak, who recoils from the look of anger in her eyes.

"What are you two planning?" Judy asks with an uncharacteristic seriousness in her voice. Vak sighs before quickly walking over to her, smile plastered across his face. "None of that." She says, stopping him half way there. "I've been analyzing you too, don't think I didn't notice the fake smile, that façade just annoys me, so stop." Vak's face slowly drops before he sighs again.

"You know, you're only one of two people to notice. I'm kind of glad but disappointed in myself at the same time." Vak says, continuing his walk.

"Don't get me wrong, it's convincing, I wouldn't have noticed without my semblance." She compliments. "So again, what are you two planning?"

"Well, calling it a plan would be an overstatement, actually an outright lie probably, we just thought you two needed some time away from each other, I guess Artemis thought it through more than me." Vak says.

"That's surprising." Judy says sarcastically.

"You really start to talk like Luci when you're annoyed." Vak points out, but Judy doesn't seem to listen.

"If you didn't have something planned then you can come into town with me, I need to do some shopping." She says, turning away from him and beginning to walk.

* * *

"Let me guess, this is about me and Judy fighting, right?" Luci says about half way through watching a fight he wasn't interested in from the start. Artemis hadn't taken her eyes off him since they split up, just in case he tried to leave without her getting the chance to say anything.

"What're you hiding?" She says bluntly. "If you're trying to hide it this badly, it's got to be important."

"It's really nothing." He responds, clearly forcing a monotone voice. "Judy's always been paranoid about stuff like this, she'll get over it in a while."

"It doesn't seem that way." Artemis doesn't miss a beat, catching him off guard as she quickly swings her hand at his face, hitting his forehead with the palm of her hand before he activates his aura. "You're distracted by something, if we had to fight right now, you would be close to useless, in fact you would be a thorn in our side as we're trying to keep you safe."

"I'm fine, you just caught me off guard." Luci responds, trying to ignore the dull throbbing in his head. "In an actual fight-" Artemis cuts him off with a heavy sigh before they hear the fight, they were supposed to be watching end with a crack.

"What are you doing?!" Goodwitch yells at the student lying on the ground and clutching his face.

"He- he broke my jaw!" The boy slurs out. The guy across from him was clearly well build enough to do that, although with the big sword he's handing over his back with one hand it would seem more like the other boy's jaw would have come off.

"Don't be dramatic, your jaw's not broken." Goodwitch replies. "You attacked him after the match had ended, mister Daichi was only defending himself." Luci only recognizes the student once he hears the name, realizing he's one of Velvet's teammates, Yatsuhashi if he remembers right, which means she's probably here as well. Artemis looks Luci in the face, seeing the focus he usually had which she hadn't seen for the last few days. She threw her hand up as a few medics came onto the stage with a stretcher to carry the dramatic student away.

"Professor Goodwitch!" She yells down to her. Goodwitch looks up at her, crossing her arms.

"Miss Titana, correct? Do you have a question?" Goodwitch asks.

"May we duel next?!" Artemis asks.

"What're you doing?" Luci asks her in a hushed voice, trying to pull her arm down.

"If this is the only way you're going to listen, then this is what I'll have to do." Artemis answers.

"This is a second-year training session. You are welcome to watch; however, I cannot permit your use of the stage." Goodwitch replies. "First year training restarts tomorrow, you can wait until then."

"Can you let us this once? Please?" Artemis begs, but Goodwitch sighs and shakes her head.

"I'm sorry, but the fights today are for the second-years only, so-" Goodwitch begins.

"Is it fine if it's a second-year verses a first year?" A girl on the front row asks as she raises her hand. "Since both second- and first-year students are participating in the Vytal Tournament, it couldn't hurt to let them join in." She explains. Goodwitch goes to respond but simply sighs instead, clearly not because she can't argue against it but instead because she doesn't want to waste any more time.

"Very well, I'm assuming you are volunteering to fight her then?" Goodwitch says as Yatsuhashi takes his seat, giving Luci a general idea of where Team CFVY are sat, making it easy for him to see Velvet looking up and shyly waving at them.

"Of course, she will." A sarcastic sounding boy says in response. "She gave you permission Em, get going."

"Yeah, yeah." The girl says, standing up and beginning to walk towards them. Luci looks up at her, only now seeing the green hair, the brown skin and the face he'd been seeing whenever he closed his eyes. "Hey, I'm Emerald." She says, holding her hand out for Artemis to shake.

"Right..." Artemis responds awkwardly, taking her hand slowly. "Look, this really isn't how I planned this, sorry for getting you involved."

"Ha, I figured as much." Emerald says. "I'm guessing you two wanted to have a fight then?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Artemis says.

"Well, I'll tell you what." Emerald replies, steadying her grip on Artemis' hand. "If you beat me, I'm sure Professor Goodwitch would let you pick him as your next opponent." She points out. Artemis thinks it over before looking at Luci as he tries to signal to her not to go through with it, only solidifying her choice.

"I guess I better win then."

* * *

Review Time With Jupiter

Welcome back to Review Time With Jupiter! I'm so glad to be back for another instalment!

First of all, a familiar face in the audience: MercyChimes!

MercyChimes says "Oi! Got to step up your game with something crazy that happens to your OCs. Allow them to uncover the plot more faster than the others as well as parties or adventures with JNPR and RWBY! Also, nice to see you again. :)" on the last chapter, Volume 2 - Chapter 2.

It's good to see YOU again, honestly, I'm glad to see some good feedback... or any feedback honestly. I've got plans for crazier stuff to happen as volume 2 progresses, although now that you say it I have changed a few plans in my notes to include more interaction between the main cast and my cast so I'm going to try and do that more and better from now on. Parties aren't really Luci and Judy's thing, but know that when the ball rolls around Vak will probably show a bit of his party animal side, and there are some adventures planned with the main cast underway, although these adventures may change the story in a few drastic ways. I'll keep up the content, so please, keep up the feedback, it's been really helpful honestly.


	30. Volume 2: Chapter 4: Emerald VS Artemis

Chapter 4: Emerald VS Artemis

Artemis stands on her side of the arena. She hasn't been in many duels so far, but she knew she had to try, especially in front of this many people. She looks across at Emerald, who draws her two blade-guns.

"You ready?" Emerald asks Artemis. Artemis pulls out her bow and locks an arrow back, pointing at the ground before nodding. Goodwitch dims the lights and the countdown to their duel begins.

"Sorry about the trouble." Artemis apologizes.

"It's no problem, we're here to fight anyway." Emerald says, causing Artemis to relax her shoulders a bit. She looked up to the seats but couldn't see further than the wall below the front row. She knew that everyone in the room could see her, but she couldn't see them, making her slightly nervous but also filling her with a drive to emerge victorious. She hears the timer reach the end, but Emerald doesn't make a move, instead standing completely still. Artemis did the same but raised her bow to aim for her opponent's chest.

"Are you-?" Artemis begins before Emerald appears right in front of her in the blink of an eye, firing both her guns in rapid succession. Artemis gets hit by a few bullets before dodging out of the way, turning quickly and firing an arrow.

The arrow hits Emerald's head, knocking her back slightly as it breaks on her aura and giving Artemis a second to prepare another arrow. As she looks up, she sees a blade coming towards her face and rolls out of the way, landing on one knee and turning back to fire on Emerald again, but not finding her in her field of vision. Suddenly, Artemis takes a hit to the side of the head, sending her flying across the stage and ending up near the edge, quickly aiming around and finding Emerald standing in the center. Emerald flips one of her guns in the air and catches it by the blade, flipping it around again and taunting before spinning the gun around her finger as it falls back down. Artemis takes the bait, raising her bow and shooting at the weapon in her hand, which would have hit it out of her hand if Emerald didn't block the arrow with her other gun, snapping it in half before dashing towards opponent.

Artemis takes another arrow out of her quiver but doesn't get it in time. Emerald strikes hard, jump kicking her off the stage. Artemis knows the rules, if they both go ring out it only counts if you hit the ground and whoever hits the ground first loses. She holds her bow at both ends and tries to swing it over the back of Emerald's head to drag her out of the ring. Emerald smiles knowingly before raising her weapon in an instant, cutting the wooden bow in half as Artemis drops down onto her back.

"Emerald Sarutsi wins by ring out." Goodwitch says as the buzzer sounds, and the room lights up again. Artemis only looks up to Luci for long enough to see his shocked face before she looks back down again at her broken bow, cut perfectly down the middle. She mumbles to herself as she continues to examine her weapon, still lying on her back without bothering to sit up. "Are you okay? You weren't hurt, were you?" She asks as she checks over the footage of the fight. Artemis continues to try and put the bow back together without success. Goodwitch looks down to her and realizes what's wrong. "If you go to the weapon's maintenance room, one of the professors will help you put it back together." She explains, offering a hand. Artemis looks up and realizes that they're waiting for her, slowly standing up and walking back up towards the stands. "And you." Goodwitch continues, turning to Emerald, who had began walking up her own side.

"Me?" Emerald asks, turning back and pointing to herself.

"You get the next pick of opponent; stay on the stage." She explains.

"Oh, right." Emerald says. "Sorry, I'm not really interested, I'll let it go to the randomizer." She finishes before continuing back up to her seat. The door shuts with a low bang as Artemis leaves. Luci stands up suddenly and follows Artemis out.

"That really wasn't necessary." Her teammate says, leaning back in her chair.

"I got carried away." Emerald agrees, sitting down between her and their only male team member, Mercury. "But I didn't want to lose."

"That was pretty risky." Mercury says. "But she had it coming." Neo nods along, leaving the girl outnumbered. "Oh yeah, he was one of the guys who fought-" He continues, stopping himself to change his wording. "Who you guys got into a fight with earlier, right?" Neo nods and the girl on the other side of Emerald sighs.

"Yeah, she was there too." She says. "Although we didn't really see her, she stayed hidden, I just recognize her arrows."

"Shut up." Emerald chimes in but is ignored.

"Em got revenge for you then, right? Since they kicked your asses?" Mercury continues, causing Neo to get annoyed while the other girl hangs her head in shame, shocking him a bit.

"I'm sorry." The girl says, looking at her broken wrist covered in bandages. "If I acted faster, we might have won..." She continues until Neo puts her hand on her shoulder and shakes her head when the girl is looking, giving her a smile and a thumbs up, causing the girl to smile in return.

"I wasn't there." Mercury begins, taking on a more sympathizing tone. "But from how Tor-… how it sounded, you were outnumbered and aren't as strong as them anyway, you might have gotten more hurt if you did get involved earlier." The girl doesn't respond but simply takes in the information, hearing that she isn't as strong as them, meaning she wasn't really any help at all. She already knew that from how the fight went but hearing someone say it in that way made it dawn on her even more.

"Be quiet." Emerald repeats, getting their attention this time. "Stop talking about it, people might be listening in."

"Then use your semblance." Mercury says.

"Are you stupid?" She asks before shaking her head. "What am I saying, of course you are. I can't use it on this many people, and even if I could it wouldn't be for long." She explains.

"Well, that's pretty useless." He jokes, revealing that what he said was just a setup to mock her. Emerald huffs and turns away from him before he yelps in fear. "What the hell, Em!" He yells, seeming to forget everyone else in the room. Emerald begins to laugh as Mercury realizes that what he saw was an illusion, returning the favor by kicking her leg hard, almost causing her to fall off her chair.

"Hey! That hurt!" She yells back at him, preparing to kick before remembering that it would hurt her more than him, instead settling for another illusion.

"Team MESN!" Goodwitch interrupts as two students walk onto the stage. "Please keep it down, the session is still in progress; you may leave if you wish." Emerald stops and turns her focus to the duel about to happen, leaving their new member confused at what just happened.

* * *

"Hey, wait up!" Luci yells to Artemis, who continues to ignore him, turning the corner and heading straight for the courtyard. "Come on, stop!" He continues to shout, catching the attention of the other students they pass by. "Do you really think you can outrun me?!" He taunts, speeding up until he's running right behind her to prove the point. When he's close enough, Artemis swings her arm back, swiping at where his head would be if he didn't dodge back out of the way. Luci looks at her face as she attacks, seeing tears streaking down her face as she wears a formidable scowl. "Are you crying?" He asks, slowing down slightly. She keeps running and pretending he's not there. "Come on, talk to me."

"Go away!" She yells back at him as she reaches the stone path of the courtyard.

"Screw you, I'm trying to help!" Luci retorts. Artemis looks behind her and sees him closing it, making a sudden turn off the path and towards the closest wall. As she reaches the wall, she jumps as high as she can, making it up to the second story and landing on the ledge near an open window, quickly gripping onto the top and throwing herself inside. "Really!" Luci shouts with genuine anger, taking his prosthetic arm off without even looking to see if anyone is watching, before aiming and firing the chained spike into the window and reeling himself up. "Will you just calm down!?" He yells as he enters the room. As soon as his feet touch the ground, they lift off it again as he's launched back, kicked by a flying Artemis before she climbs back out of the window, leaving him to hit the back wall of the classroom they broke into. "Seriously! What's your problem!" He yells, slowly getting to his feet and walking back over to the window.

"What are you doing in here?" A voice asks him, prompting him to turn and see who it is, although he already had a pretty good idea.

"... Professor Ozpin." Luci says, seeing the headmaster stood in the doorway.

"This classroom was locked, and you know the rule about climbing the building, so in short you know you shouldn't be in here." Ozpin says in his usual nonchalant fashion.

"You have camera's all over the grounds, if you cared then you would have stopped us earlier." Luci points out, but Ozpin shakes his head.

"I feel that you got the wrong impression of me." The headmaster begins. "I keep an eye on all of my students to learn about them, why do you think that is?"

Luci thinks for a second but there's only one answer he can think of. "To look for spies." He says with confidence.

"Well, maybe in part." Ozpin admits. "But mostly for the opposite reason. Someone like me has few people they can trust, like I've already told you, everyone is suspicious to some extent. That's why I watch over all the students, to see which ones I can trust, not which ones I can't." He explains, it makes sense, but Luci finds it hard to believe, although there's no point in arguing about his reasoning when he can't see inside his head.

"So, is this where you bestow a lesson on me, you must have seen what's happened today." Luci asks sarcastically, to which Ozpin looks slightly surprised.

"Did you not grasp my lesson from what I told you?" Ozpin says, causing Luci to look at him in confusion while he thinks it over. "Then I'll give you another option." He says, holding up one finger. "Would you like me to explain it to you directly?" He says, holding up a second finder. "Or would you like to figure this out on your own?" He asks, leaving the two options hanging in the air, not making it clear which one he wants.

Luci thinks about it, but there's not really an option for him. He's apparently already been given the lesson so if he can't figure it out then that means he's failed as a student. "I'll get it in a bit." He says, climbing up onto the windowsill.

"I can respect that choice." Ozpin says. "Now, a second offer." He says, regaining Luci's attention. "You are pursuing miss Titana, correct? Would you like my assistance in finding her?"

"Nah, I've got this." He says, clambering out of the window. "I'm pretty sure I know where she's going." He finishes before dropping down into the courtyard. Ozpin takes a sip of his coffee.

"You really are like Qrow." He says to himself. "I hope that doesn't continue."


	31. Volume 2: Chapter 5: Logic

Chapter 5: Logic

Vak trails slightly behind Judy, carrying a bag full of clothes. He looks around, wondering how this must look, more out of curiosity than worry since he didn't really mind what the random people on the street thought of him, the only thing he was really worried about is that they might lose track of time and stay out of the dorms past curfew.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry your stuff?" Vak asks, looking at Judy stumbling slightly from the weight of the stuff she's carrying in her backpack.

"Do you think... I can't... carry this much?" She struggles to say between her panting, forcing herself to stay ahead of him.

"No... well, kind of, but mostly because you seem to be struggling." He points out, jogging slightly to catch up with her before matching her fairly slow speed, lifting Nixi up slightly with one hand, almost causing Judy to tumble forward from the sudden change in weight. "Woah, I didn't realize how much you got." He says as Judy tries to get ahead of him again but falling back once he lets the bag drop. "Sorry, are you okay?!" He asks in a panic, but she gives him the same scowl she'd been wearing for a while now, although it seemed much more forced now.

"See? I was fine before you tried to-" She begins, cutting herself off, looking down and lightening her expression a bit. "I get that you're trying to help, but this isn't the first time I've done this, I'm used to it." She says, slowly getting up and pulling her backpack around to her front to check on Nixi.

"Is that about this or Luci?"

"Both." She responds quickly. Putting Nixi back in place with a struggle before turning back to him. "We've argued before, it's not like this is a new thing, either I'll realize he was right or he'll realize I was, that's how we work."

"Huh..." Vak thinks for a second, thinking about how him and Aria act around each other. They don't really fight exactly, if they disagree on something, they just won't bring it up, but then again, his parents argue about the business all the time, but they still seem happy together. "I guess couples just have different ways of doing these things, huh." He blurts out to himself, not really meaning to say it aloud, or at least as loud as he did.

"Couples?" Judy says. Vak expects her to show some kind of embarrassment but she looks more confused than anything else.

"Sorry, wasn't I supposed to know?" He says, causing Judy to stop in her tracks, clearly expecting him to give a different response. "Are you two not dating or whatever?" He asks nervously. Unexpectedly, Judy begins to laugh. "Wha-what's funny? Am I wrong?"

"Of course, you're wrong!" Judy says, still laughing. "What made you think that? Did Luci tell you?"

"Y-yes, but I probably would have thought so anyway." Vak says, making Judy slowly stop laughing.

"Really? Does everyone else think that too?" Judy asks him with genuine interest.

"Probably not everyone, but I think Artemis thinks so as well." Vak answers.

"Oh..." She says, putting her hand on her chin in contemplation before tilting her head. "Why?" Vak looks at her with clear confusion on his face and Judy stands back up straight, shaking her head. "I mean, can you explain it? I don't really get it."

Vak is hesitant to answer, but she doesn't seem to be expecting a certain answer so he might as well just be honest. "I can't speak for Artemis, but you guys seem really close. He takes care of you whenever anything happens and you... well not much has happened to him, but when stuff did happen you were the first one to rush in to save him and put yourself in danger." He says, thinking over their fight with Torchwick. Judy ponders this for a second and compare is to the few other couples she knows about before nodding.

"Actually, yeah, I can see it." She sighs and turns around to continues walking. "But no, that would never work."

Vak considers asking why but thinks it might be too personal for this type of casual conversation, plus they're already off topic enough. "But you two do care about each other, right? What are you even fighting about? I don't really get it."

Judy sighs. "You know how my semblance works, right?"

"Basically."

"Well, I can use it on people as well to find smaller details in their reactions, for example, how I figured out how much you hide your actual feelings." She says casually like it's a throw away point, making Vak feel slightly offended but trying not to show it. "Luci lies a lot, so I used to use it to tell when he was lying because when he did it was usually to his own detriment. That's not to make him sound like a saint, he usually just doesn't plan for when he fails and gets hurt trying to improvise." She explains. "He asked me not to use it on him anymore and said that he wouldn't lie as long as I did."

"But he lied." Vak adds. "I mean, I didn't need your semblance to tell that, something was obviously wrong."

"Exactly, I just wanted to check." Judy agrees. "If he didn't lie to me, I wouldn't have done it."

"I guess that makes sense..." Vak says. "Then again, it might be something that he can't tell you, right?"

"That doesn't matter." She shakes her head. "The deal was that he doesn't lie, and I don't analyze him, no attachment saying, 'Unless I need to'."

"What do you think he was hiding?" Vak asks.

"I don't know." Judy admits. "But if it's important, that's more reason to tell me." Vak wants to point out that it would be better if he told all of them, but that probably wouldn't help. Judy turns back and looks at him quickly before continuing. "You can be honest with me, it's not like I'm going to kick you off the team over a disagreement."

"That's not what I'm worried about, but if you say so." He says, lowering his head to avoid looking at her. "It seems kind of selfish of you."

Judy immediately stops and turns to look at him. "In what way?" She says, taking offence. "It's selfish of him to keep secrets. The agreement was to save time, he doesn't lie so I don't have to find out if he's lying, I'm just keeping up my end, it's only logical."

"Yes, but it's not all about logic, if it was then you wouldn't still be arguing about it." Vak points out. "Luci might be wrong, I get that, but if he had to keep something from us then there's not really any choice in it. You chose to see if he was lying and I get that, but if he can't tell you then it's just going to frustrate him more, right? It seems a little..."

"A little what?" Judy asks him.

"Robotic." Nixi answers from the backpack, surprising them both. "I didn't get all of it, but I got most of what happened. Luci only uses lies in extreme conditions, either when he's relaxed or when he's scared."

"I know that, that's why he needs to tell me." Judy replies.

"No, he shouldn't tell you, it wouldn't solve anything if he does." Nixi says. "I could tell you, but I don't think it would help anything, if he wants to tell you then he will, just give him some time."

"So, you know what it is then?" Judy asks and Nixi goes silent. "You know I can use the code."

"What code?" Vak asks.

"The code to make her answer all my questions, I made it when I let Luci give her commands." She explains. "So, just tell me, I don't want to use it."

"That seems a bit extreme... and immoral."

"Immorality is a matter of opinion." Judy says, taking Nixi off her back and sitting on a nearby bench. "Plus, it's the same with people, everyone has a trigger to get them to reveal whatever you want, it just takes longer to activate."

"Well, you might be right, but even then, that seems kind of cruel." Vak says. "Like Nixi said, let him have some time to think it over."

"I can't, Luci leaves these types of things till the last minute before warning anyone." Judy explains.

"But things are different now, right?" Vak sits down next to her. "Artemis is probably trying to talk him down right now."

"If she did, it would probably end up with her in tears, Luci doesn't like being talked down to." Judy says while taking out a few of the parts she brought to make room in the bag.

"I don't think Artemis would cry about that kind of thing." Vak adds before getting back on topic. "My point is, Luci might change his mind by the time we get back, didn't you say earlier to just leave it and you two will work it out on your own?"

"And you brought it up again." Judy points out.

"Because I disagree." Vak says. "I don't need to agree but doing this is slightly hypocritical." Judy's arms stop moving as soon as he finishes his sentence. Vak expects her to start arguing against him but she instead starts picking up the parts she placed on the bench. "Wait, is that it?"

"Yes." Judy confirms. "If I forced N9 to speak, then I would be getting her involved and I disagree that other people getting involved is necessary, that would be hypocritical." Judy explains.

"That's still really robotic reasoning."

"If being logical makes me 'robotic', then I guess I'm robotic." She says. Vak sighs and holds out his hand to take Nixi.

"Then would you agree that it's logical to let me help carry that when it's too heavy for you?" Vak asks. Judy thinks about it for a second before reluctantly handing the backpack over to him.

"You just wanted to win part of that argument, didn't you?" She asks and Vak smiles knowingly.

"I had to get one part, otherwise I would have felt like I lost." He admits before Judy takes the bag of clothes off him.

"If you're going to insist on helping me, then you can't complain if I help you in return." She says, opening the bag slightly to look inside. "Why do you need so many sets of clothes anyway?"

"Hey, I didn't ask you why you've got so much metal in your bag." Vak challenges.

"You could have, it's not a secret." She says, continuing to look through his bag.

"... If you must know, I'm trying to figure out what to wear to the prom." Vak says.

"Prom?" Judy asks.

"Yeah, it's only a few weeks away." Vak says.

"We've got our first mission before then though, shouldn't you be upgrading your weapons and stuff, right?" She suggests.

"I thought that was your whole thing, I don't want to take that away from you." He jokes, getting a small smile from Judy before she forces out a sigh.

"Then I expect you to do more of the heavy lifting." She replies before hearing a whirring from Nixi.

"What happened?" Nixi asks.

"We sorted it out, what have you been doing?" Vak asks.

"I put myself into sleep mode so that I couldn't answer any questions." Nixi says. "I'm glad you got through to her though, otherwise it would have been trouble when I woke up."

"I didn't know you could do that." Judy says.

"Oh, you're here." Nixi tries to use her camera but it gets blocked by the metal in the bag.

"We're still walking back." Judy explains. "Anyway, when did you figure out you could put yourself to sleep to avoid my programming?" Nixi falls silent again. "N9?" Judy asks, still not getting a response. "Damnit, it's Luci again. He would do something like this just to mess with me."

"Really? Longform pranks don't seem like his style." Vak says.

"It's the only thing that really works for me, you and Artemis are just easily entertained." Judy points out with a knowing grin. "Although, I think Artemis might enjoy it too much since she brings it on herself most of the time." She jokes. "Either that or she just doesn't get that she's outmatched."

* * *

After words

This one was kind of hard for me to write honestly. I've gotten a lot better at writing combat recently but I think that I've dropped off in character development slightly, although my friend has told me that this is a good chapter so I'm not really sure. Because of this, for the first time, I'm really going to ask for some feedback. I don't care how you word feedback, if it's good or bad or even just saying "This is good" or "This is terrible", all of it is welcome.


	32. Volume 2: Chapter 6: Trust

Chapter 6: Trust

Artemis begins to slow down as she reaches the edge of the forest, ignoring the tape that clearly marks it as 'Off Limits' and charging straight through. She doesn't go too far, although she's upset, she doesn't want to get the others in trouble because of this. She holds her broken weapon in front of her, the string still attaching the two pieces, knowing that even with repairs it won't fire the same way ever again. She hugs the bow tightly and begins crying before untying the bowstring and pocketing it. She wipes the tears out of her eyes and turns to a nearby tree.

"I know you're there." She says. "Come out before I hit you." After a short pause, Luci comes out from behind the tree with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry." He says. "I didn't expect you to be crying out here."

"Yes, you did."

"Yeah, I kind of did." He admits. "But I didn't think you would be this bad over a bow."

"... This isn't just 'a bow', this is my bow." She says, holding the pieces up to see them clearly in the sunlight. "The first and only bow that I've ever made."

"Why don't you make another-?"

"I can't." Artemis interrupts with tears building up in her eyes again, her whole body shaking. It doesn't take Luci long to figure out that the shaking is coming from her left leg, it looks unsteady and twitchy, but he had never noticed before. "I was never good with my hands to begin with, but I still managed to make this from start to finish. I got the wood, I bought the string with money I earned from odd jobs, I even made most of the tools I needed despite us already having them, and by some miracle I created something even I could be pleased with..." She rants before lowering her arm with a heavy sigh. "But passion can't hold up to skill and power. I knew that from the start, but I still wanted to believe for a bit longer." She says with a wistful look as she watches the trees wave in the wind. She's been wearing trousers since the weather started getting colder, but he remembers that when she was wearing shorts there was a noticeable scar on her left leg that she never really brought up before. He reaches out to grab her shoulder and tell her everything's going to be okay, but it's not in his nature to lie to save other people's feelings from being hurt.

"Look, Judy can make you a new bow, a better one that can stand up to something like that." He says, to which Artemis laughs.

"You still think this is about just a bow! I've explained it, this is sentimental." She says, finally turning to him properly. "Have you ever lost anything you cared about?" Luci goes to give the obvious answer, but she cuts him off. "Besides your hand, something you care about outside yourself."

Luci lets the question settle for a minute before answering. "I don't remember."

"Then that doesn't count." Artemis says.

"No, I remember what it was, I just don't remember how I lost it." He elaborates. "A family. Someone who cared about me and would sacrifice anything to keep me safe. I remember them, all of them, but I don't remember what happened to them." Artemis isn't sure how to answer, instead asking another question.

"Have you told Judy about this?" She asks.

"Of course not, she never asks, and I don't think about it enough to give her any hints." He answers with some manner of pride and self-deprecation. "So, I don't know if that counts if I never really think about it." He admits, unsure himself if he wanted her sympathy or for her to mock him for being so weak. Artemis looks at him with caution, not sure if she can even trust that he's telling the truth until she sees the confused emotions on his face. "You want me to tell all of you what I've been keeping to myself? It's this. This fear that I'm going to lose everything again and my brain won't even value the information of how it was suddenly gone enough to vaguely remember." Artemis forces herself to speak up.

"What made you start worrying about that now?" She asks.

He looks around quickly before answering. "That green haired girl." He answers, causing Artemis to recoil in confusion. "I... think she's a threat."

"Why though?" Artemis asks curiously.

Luci pauses before reluctantly answering. "I think I recognize her."

Artemis is surprised but also really confused. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?" She asks. "I mean if I met an old friend, I'd probably be happy."

"It's not like that." He says. "There are two types of people I've met in my life, people working for Torchwick and people I failed to kill for him, anyone before that is most likely dead and anyone then after I would remember better." He explains, leaning back against the tree, defeated. "In short, they're someone I don't feel comfortable with being here."

Artemis is taken aback by how open he's being about his relationship with Torchwick since he'd avoided talking about it directly since the battle last term. She forces herself through her shock and continues, knowing that she's getting somewhere. "And you think we can't report her?"

"Definitely not, not without any evidence at least." Luci sighs, looking around the forest and towards the school. "I can see why you come here, it's relaxing."

"Don't try to change the subject." Artemis says with an uncharacteristic earnestness in her voice. "If you're worried about this, then you can rely on us. We're your teammates, we're not just here to fight, we're here for support as well." She says, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I know you find this kind of stuff hard, but... you can trust us... you need to trust us... please." She begs. Luci's about to ask why she cares so much before he finally looks down, seeing her face and knowing that it's not for her sake, it's for his.

"... Yeah... I'll try." He says, smiling to himself without realizing.

"Good." Artemis says, smiling back with her eyes red from tears. She suddenly pushes the hand she had on his shoulder out, shoving him back slightly. "Although knowing you, you're just going to do whatever you want anyway." She jokes, going back to her usual tone, making Luci more comfortable than when she was actually trying to comfort him. "I guess I need to get a new weapon ready, I won't be a very good partner without one, and after all this, I'm gunna have to keep an eye on you." She says, pocketing the two pieces of bow, leaving them sticking out of her pockets slightly. Luci sees them about to fall and snatches them up, stuffing them into his deep trench coat pocket without her noticing, as he follows her, assuming she knows where she's going.

* * *

"We're here." Artemis says, looking down at her scroll. Luci looks at the door in front of him, a door he recognizes well, although he could tell where they were going when they entered the building.

"This is just our room." He points out, turning to her. "You and Vak have something planned I guess?" He asks, but before he knows what's going on the door swings open and Artemis shoves him inside, sliding past Vak, who dashes out of the door and slams it shut behind himself. Luci was expecting something like this, but he didn't think Artemis would actually push him inside, or that Vak would go along with a stupid plan like this. He looks towards the beds and finds exactly what he expected, Judy. She doesn't get up and stays sat down, clearly expecting something like this as well. Luci sighs and sits down opposite her, noticing that Nixi isn't there either.

"Vak took her." Judy says, predicting what he's thinking correctly. "She said that she would be in the way if she was here." She says nonchalantly.

"I guess so." Luci agrees, looking around.

"Their plan isn't very well thought out." She continues. "I'm honestly a bit disappointed. If we really wanted to, we could jump out of the window, it's not like we would hurt ourselves."

"But you don't want to run away then?" Luci says and Judy shakes her head. "Do you want to talk?"

"We've always sorted this kind of stuff out that way." Judy points out, taking out one of her guns and beginning to fiddle with it. She didn't do this very often since she usually had Nixi to tinker with when she's nervous, but Luci's seen her do it a few times without realizing, he smiles a little to himself now that he knows she doesn't really want to have this conversation either, it shows him that she realizes that she's not completely right either. "We would have probably been fine if they didn't drag us away from each other."

"I don't think so." Luci disagrees. "I don't know if it's the same for you, but Artemis helped me think about it a different way than I think either of us would have."

"You're probably right." She admits. "Although Vak wasn't much help, he just kept insisting on carrying my stuff."

"What stu-" He begins before seeing the pile of metal on the desk in the corner of the room. "More upgrades?"

"No, another commission." She explains. "But I thought I might as well try to convince Artemis to let me make her a weapon again."

"She might just go for that this time..." He mumbles to himself, but she overhears and gives him a curious look. "Some stuff happened, I'll explain later." He says, resting his head on his knees casually as he looks up at her. "First, I think we need to finish this argument."

"It sounds stupid when you say it like that." Judy says with a sigh, still playing with her gun. "What do you think then? Have you changed your mind?"

"Sort of." He says. "I think this 'deal' thing is kinda a bad idea."

"Yeah, probably." Judy agrees. "Everyone lies about stuff for different reasons, I can't just blanket all of yours as bad, right?"

Luci looks at her, slightly surprised since she was the one who suggested that condition in the first place, but shakes it off and continues. "Yeah, but I can't blame you for being curious." He says. "There are going to be some situations where you might need to analyze me, but even then, I don't think I should limit how you use your semblance in this kind of way." He looks her in the eyes before he begins speaking again. "Instead, how about this. I don't like you using your semblance on me, I trust you not to unless you really think it's necessary or I give you permission." He says with a certain seriousness in his eyes.

Judy nods. "And I don't like you lying to me or hiding information that might be dangerous, please tell me anything important unless you really can't." She says, holding her hand out, but Luci shakes his head.

"We don't need to shake on it, it's not an agreement, it's just the two of us trusting each other's judgments." He explains. "Plus, I can't shake with my left hand." He says, pointing to her held out hand, causing her to retract it in embarrassment. Luci smiles and holds out a clenched fist instead. "Trust?" He says, causing Judy's embarrassed face to change to a similar smile as she raises her fist.

"Trust." She says as she pushes her hand forward and their fists collide. Judy stands up immediately after and walks over to the door. "Better let them back in then." She says before swinging the door open, causing Artemis to trip into the room, followed by a sighing Vak.

"How did you-" Artemis begins.

"One, the door doesn't have a lock, so you would have to hold it shut. Two, you would probably have wanted to listen to make sure we sorted everything out properly." Judy lists, looking to Vak. "Although, I was expecting you to be listening in as well."

"I trusted you two to take care of it." Vak explains. "Artemis was the only one really worried."

"I couldn't not be worried! It's our team morale we're talking about!" Artemis explains. "And you were worried as well, don't lie." She says, pointing to Vak, who stands there with a cheeky smile on his face. Luci hides his mouth and smiles to himself, thinking that Artemis was right. He doesn't need to trust them completely, and he still has his own worries, but he can at least trust them to help him through this kind of thing. He looks over to Judy, who looks back and gives him a small smile. Looking to the others, they all have the same kind of vibe coming from them, not carefree but... open. Although Artemis is easily irritated and Vak is awkwardly formal most of the time, they both have the feeling of acceptance and trust coming off them, and although Judy and Luci didn't used to have it, he feels like it's starting to rub off on them.

"Sorry." Luci says, getting their attention and stopping Artemis and Vak's small argument. "I'll tell you what I'm worried about... but don't tell anyone else."

* * *

After Words

Kinda glad to have this mini arc over with. Not that the drama based arcs are bad, I just find them hard to write since I prefer to write fights and mix character development into that kind of story telling rather than doing a whole character development story. I mainly wanted to have this arc partly to give me time to plan out the main arcs for this volume, but also because I felt like I didn't have enough character development in the first volume and wanted to have an arc like this this volume and couldn't find anywhere to fit it for what I was planning. The next arc will be much more action based. I'm changing the timeline a bit, as I hinted at a few chapters ago, so their first mission will happen before the prom, and that will be what the next arc is going to be about. Hope you enjoyed and keep updated because I update pretty sporadically.


	33. Volume 2: Chapter 7: Grouping Up

Chapter 7: Grouping Up

Team JAVL and team JADE sit across the table from each other in a short moment of silence following their long conversation. Dalos hadn't really been listening much, although he caught all the important bits, and Apollo seemed preoccupied with the book he was reading, but he still payed enough attention.

"So, what you're saying is..." Jayce says, relaxing slightly after the tense moment. "You want us to help you break the rules."

"Not exactly..." Judy says but looks away suddenly. "We're not trying to break the rules or anything, we just need to get some information on that team, they're suspicious."

"And you suspect them of...?" Apollo asks. "I'm sorry, but even if Jayce accepted, I wouldn't."

"Apollo." Artemis growls at him and he closes his book.

"Artemis, I get what you guys are worried about, but using Judy to guilt us into getting involved is just..." He explains before trailing off.

"What do you mean 'using Judy'?" Vak asks. "She's the one asking because she's the team leader."

Apollo sighs and looks to Jayce for confirmation, but he doesn't know what he's talking about either. "Don't play dumb. I can believe Artemis not knowing, but not you three." Apollo begins and the three of them hang their heads. "We all know that Jayce likes Judy-"

"What?!" Artemis and Jayce both exclaim at the same time.

"It was obvious." Eyuno affirms and Dalos laughs along. Luci suddenly stands up.

"Alright then, I'm the one asking." He announces, looking Apollo in the eyes. "Please help us."

Apollo responds instantly. "No." Luci is quite shocked by this, but Artemis isn't, knowing how he gets in these situations. "Like I said, I can appreciate that you're trying to do something good, but I joined this academy for a reason and I'm not getting kicked out because of a wild goose chase."

"I think we should help them." Dalos says. "I mean, it won't be hard to create a distraction, and it's not like we have to get caught."

"Are you sure you want to take that risk?" Apollo asks. "I know you went through a lot of work to get here."

"Why not?" Dalos replies, leaning back in his chair to look past Eyuno. "I mean, we're becoming huntsmen to do good, right? It would just be starting early."

"Well put." Jayce agrees, looking to his partner. "I know you have different reasons than me to become a huntsman, but you're not the type to ignore someone in need." Apollo sighs again and stands up, grabbing his tray which only has a drink and his book on it and begins to walk away. "Apollo."

"I'm not going to ignore people in need..." Apollo begins, turning back to look at the two teams. "But you have nothing but speculations and you're thinking about breaking not only school rules, but the law. I'm not involving myself in something that risky for uncertain reward, it's the only logical answer." He turns away again, prepared to leave. "I'm still your teammate and I won't report you, but don't involve me in any of these conversations again." He walks across the room and puts his tray in the pile before leaving the room. They stay in silence for another few minutes before Eyuno stands up as well.

"You too?" Jayce asks.

"I'm sorry." She answers. "I can't risk getting involved, even if you have more proof than your 'intuition', I couldn't agree to us getting risking expulsion."

"Us?" Luci says as she pulls Dalos up by the arm.

"I know more than anyone how much Dalos went through to get here, I'm not letting the help I've given him go to waste." She explains. Dalos looks slightly upset but doesn't fight back.

"Sorry guys." He apologizes, walking along with her as she leaves.

"I'm really sorry." Jayce says. "I'm still willing to help out if you need me, and Dalos will probably be able to help anyway, he's just playing along."

"Don't worry." Judy says. "The plan didn't necessarily need you to work and we really didn't think about the potential risk involved, plus it was always an option, we really weren't trying to guilt you into anything."

"I-I get it, but..." Jayce speaks before he really knows what he wants to say. "They're good people, they're just... worried, Apollo especially so."

Vak quickly lifts his head. "That reminds me." He turns to Artemis. "What did he mean when he said he didn't join for the same reason as us?"

"Oh, I never told you guys?" Artemis says, surprised she hadn't brought it up before. "Apollo doesn't really want to be a huntsman."

"Then why is he here?" Judy asks.

"That's hard to explain." She says, slumping down on the table as she thinks. "You know how the professors know a lot of stuff?" They all give her a confused look. "I mean, they teach us and stuff, right?"

Jayce speaks up. "Do you want me to explain it instead?"

"Sure." She replies, slumping down even more as she realizes how stupid what she said sounded.

"Basically, he wants access to the information that the teachers get, but there are only a few ways to do that legally." He begins explaining. "He could either become a soldier, but then he would have to work his way through the ranks to get to the point that he has access, which could take a lifetime. His other option is becoming a huntsman teacher." Everyone gets a look of realization on their face as they look to Artemis, understanding what her statement was supposed to mean. "And to do that, he can't have a criminal record."

"What about Eyuno?" Judy asks. "I don't know much about her; she doesn't talk much."

"Look who's talking." Luci points out, earning a dirty look from Judy.

"I'm not really sure either, you might have a better chance asking Dalos." Jayce answers. "Or, you could ask her yourself on our mission this week, all you would have to do is team up with us."

"Oh yeah, it's a two-team mission, right?" Luci says. "Has anyone offered to group up with you yet?"

"After how bad our last duel was, no way." Jayce laughs it off. "We either team up with you or be put with a random team, and despite how they all acted, I think the others would prefer the former." Luci smiles and is about to agree before Judy speaks up.

"Sorry, but we can't do that." She cuts in. "We don't want to force them to get involved, plus you wanted to stay in the Vale area, right? We're aiming for Vacuo."

"Wait, we are?" Vak asks, and the other two are equally surprised.

Judy takes Nixi off her back and puts her up on the table, beginning to tinker with her. "I got into contact with a few people back home and they said there has been a lot of White Fang activity lately."

Everyone is surprised but Vak is the first to speak up. "I didn't think you had the type of connections to get information like that." Judy gets an uncharacteristically surprised look on her face.

"Oh, well, not really." She says before launching into a full explanation. "You know, Vacuo is a lot more open with information than the other kingdoms. They rely a lot more on people knowing the dangers so that people are able to defend themselves rather than leaving them in the dark to avoid a panic."

"You surprisingly know a lot about Vacuo's politics." Luci points out.

"Well, you learn a lot about a places rules when you grow up there." Vak says. "I mean, it took me a while to get used to how free Vale is compared to Atlas." Judy nods along in agreement. "So, why are we going after the White Fang anyway? I mean, besides them being the bad guys. We don't know they're involved with the green-haired girl... umm..."

"Emerald." Judy corrects. "And we know the White Fang are in business with Torchwick, at the moment at least, so if she's linked to Torchwick too, they might know more about her." She says before taking a short pause. "Plus, I don't like the thought of them doing what they want in my home. I know it's selfish, and we have better things to do, but I want the rest of you to help me with this." No-one talks for a moment but speak up almost all at once.

"Of course, we'll help." Vak says.

"Yeah, obviously!" Artemis agrees.

"You're our leader, right?" Luci points out. "It's up to you in the end." Hearing all of this, Judy smiles and tries to hide it, although Jayce smiles back at her as well before standing up.

"Well, I guess that's everything sorted out then." He says, picking up his tray and the tray Dalos left behind. "Like I said, if you need my help, just give me a call. See you guys later." He finishes with a little wave as he goes, leaving team JAVL alone on the big table.

"Now that you mention it..." Artemis begins after observing the conversation. "Who are we going to group up with?"

"The subject changed twice since we mentioned that..." Luci points out, taking a bite of his now cold food. "You've got a group ready for us, right Judy."

"Of course." Judy says before taking a sip of water. "Velvet's team, CFVY." She points to them across the room. Velvet notices her pointing and waves, to which Judy waves back.

Vak nods in agreement before coming to a realization. "Isn't it first years only?"

"Is it?" Judy asks casually while still waving, freezing once she realizes what that means. "Wait, really?"

Luci sighs and puts his head in his hand. "Did you even look at the announcement?"

"You especially know how busy I've been, I didn't have time!" She defends herself before flopping down in her seat. "Well, that's everyone I know, what about you two?" She asks, directing her question towards Vak and Artemis.

"You think I don't have any other friends?" Luci asks, acting overexaggerated offended.

"Well, there's always team CRDL." Vak brushes Luci's question aside. "They probably don't have anyone who wants to work with them."

"I've got nothing." Artemis says. "I'd prefer not to work with them unless we have to though."

"That's a pretty tame response from you." Judy adds.

"Are you guys ignoring me on purpose or did you not hear me?" Luci asks.

"Wait, you were serious?" Artemis replies with genuine surprise, the other two reacting the same way. "I thought you were joking. Do you actually have other friends?"

Luci puts on a smug smile and quickly scans the room for his blonde training partner, finding her sat with her team across the room. He dramatically swings his arm and points at Yang, the only one he knows. "Team RWBY."

"RWBY?" Vak perks up, looking over to where Luci is pointing and seeing Weiss sat at that table. "I don't think they will work with us."

"Why not?" He asks before remembering their conversation before. "Oh, because Weiss won't talk to you or whatever? I don't think that will matter too much, I heard they're good people."

"Luci."

"From who?" Artemis asks.

"Yang, the blonde one." He says, looking over and seeing the black-haired girl, who he remembers as Blake, tapping Yang on the shoulder.

"Luci."

"I really don't think that-" Vak begins.

"Luci!" Judy yells, grabbing his arm and slamming it down. "Stop pointing, they're looking at us." Luci looks over again and notices all of team RWBY looking at them while Yang walks over.

"Oh..." He pauses. "Well, perfect time to ask, right?" He waves to her and she waves back, now noticing that it's him.

"Oh hey, what's up?" Yang asks as she reaches the table.

"Do you guys want to join us on the mission this week? We're thinking of heading for Vacuo."

"Ehh... I'm not really sure." She hesitates, glancing quickly at Vak. "You would have to ask Ruby."

"Why not?" The black-haired girl says, suddenly appearing next to Yang with a wave. "Hi! I'm Ruby. You're Luci, right? Yang said you're a friend of hers." Luci nods and smiles, kind of happy that she considers him a friend, although the others are just shocked. Ruby holds her hand out for a handshake. "I would be happy to team up with you guys, after all, a friend of Yang's is a friend of mine and a friend of a friend is a friend, right?"

Luci pauses for a moment, not really sure how to respond. "I'm... not really sure about that logic... but yeah, that's basically it. What do you think, Judy?" Ruby turns suddenly to Judy in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I thought he was the team leader." She apologizes. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"No offence taken." Judy accepts her handshake, almost out of reflex from the sudden change in tone, before realizing what she had done. "Umm... yeah, I guess we'll be grouping up then." Luci looks up at Yang with a small smile, but her expression is kind of nervous, especially for how light hearted the situation was.


	34. Volume 2: Chapter 8: Journey to Vacuo

Chapter 8: Journey to Vacuo

"Woah..." Luci exclaims as they all gather in the main hall. The room was full of students, which was to be expected, but he hadn't realized there were this many first years.

"Oh yeah, you guys missed the entrance ceremony, didn't you?" Artemis points out. "I was impressed at first too, this room is huge." She continues, still in awe after already spending a term here.

"Hey! Over here!" Ruby yells from the middle of the room, waving them over. Luci ran into Blake a few times over the break, so he wasn't surprised that she had her usual distant expressions; what did surprise him was Yang's awkward expression, like she didn't want to be there. He wanted to ask what was wrong before he notices the scowl on Weiss' face, turning back to see that she's looking at Vak. Vak didn't talk about his problems with Weiss much, but they all knew that they weren't exactly on speaking terms. Luci Knew this, of course, and by Yang's reaction, she probably knew as well, but they didn't really have much of a choice.

Luci sighed but forced a small smile and began making his way over to them, followed hesitantly by everyone else, except Artemis who didn't seem to notice the change in mood. "Hey, sorry we're late, we had some technical difficulties." He explains vaguely, not wanting to admit that he lost his false arm. "Have you guys already looked through the missions?"

"No, we were waiting for you." Ruby says. "Yang said you wanted to go to Vacuo?"

Luci looks back at Judy, indication to her that she should be doing this and not him. "Oh, right." Judy nods, stepping forward. "Sorry if that's a problem."

"No, no problem, it's just that none of us have ever been there, it would be a good learning experience, don't you think?" Ruby explains, looking back to her team, who all seem unresponsive.

"That makes sense." Blake is surprisingly the first to speak up. "I've been through Vacuo, but I've never done anything there, it could be useful to learn to fight on that terrain." She explains much more elegantly than Ruby did. Yang seems to loosen up a bit with a small sigh; Weiss seems like she wants to disagree but after a quick glance in Vak's direction, she stops herself.

"Yeah, exactly!" Ruby agrees enthusiastically. "Jaune said that most of the missions are for the Vale area, but he said that Vacuo is the second most popular, so it shouldn't be hard to find one."

"Cool, let's go then." Luci declares, setting his eyes on a corner of the room, starting from the right and going around the room. Everyone else follows him, Artemis trying to make conversation, although failing with everyone except Ruby who quickly outpaces her anyway. Judy stayed stuck to his side, making sure they didn't lose each other in the crowd.

Although she's gotten much better at handling her anxiety lately, she still looks tired after just being in a crowded room for a few minutes. It isn't really a problem since they're safe here, but it could be a big problem if she got like this on a mission.

Luci quickly scans the lists, checking the location and nothing else before moving onto the next one. On the third list, Judy stops him. "Here." She says, pointing to one of the missions. Luci looks it over, but the location section has a name he doesn't recognize. "Trident, it's one of the central towns in Vacuo. Since most of the towns around Vacuo are not affiliated with the kingdom, it's easier to refer to them individually."

"Not affiliated with the kingdom?" Weiss asks this time, listening in to the conversation. "How is that possible?"

"W-well..." Judy stutters thanks to the sudden intrusion. "It's easy to make a settlement in Vacuo, all you need are people and long-term structures, so there are a lot of towns that are independent and refuse to join the kingdom." She explains.

"That sounds stupid. What's the point of a kingdom if no-one has to follow the laws?" Weiss asks, almost in a mocking tone, although it doesn't seem intentional, so Judy ignores it.

"Well, the kingdom sets its own laws as well... I guess if people don't like the laws of a town, then no-one would live there... so the kingdom sets a general principle... I guess." Judy tries to explain, catching Weiss off guard a bit.

"Oh... well, that makes sense, in a way." She says, thinking for a moment. "I still think that's too chaotic though."

"Umm... okay?" Judy mumbles awkwardly, not really sure how to respond, leaving them in silence for a moment.

Artemis finally notices the tension between them and looks around for a distraction. "Hey, Apollo!" She yells, seeing her brother looking at the other boards. He looks around suddenly until he sees her waving to him, immediately recognizing the mood and sighing, trying to walk away. "Apollo, I know you saw me!" She continues to yell at him. People start to stare at him; he sighs again and makes his way over to the group.

"What do you want?" Apollo asks in a hushed voice, not wanting to draw more attention.

"I don't want anything, just wanted to check how you were doing." Artemis says, confused. "Where's the rest of JADE?"

"Behind." He answers with an annoyed tone, noticing quickly and forcing a neutral expression. "We only have a few minutes left before another team will be assigned to us. Dalos doesn't care, Eyuno's babying him, like always, and Jayce is looking for another team we know to join us; I'm supposed to look for a good mission, but all of the ones suited to our skills are gone." He continues, getting more frustrated as he speaks. "If we don't find a good team then we won't have time to learn their skills, if we don't learn their skills then we can't pick a mission well suited to us."

"O-oh..." Artemis already regrets her decision to call him over.

"Our plan was to go with team JNPR, since Dalos suggested them and I wanted to get a closer look at Pyrrha Nikos in action..." He continues, biting his thumb nail. "But of course, since she's one of the strongest warriors in our year, they already had a ton of offers lined up and ended up going with some people she knew from Atlas." He continues to complain. It comforts Artemis in a way, given how much has changed, at least some things had stayed the same, although it was still frustrating to see him acting like a child.

"There's always team CRDL?" Artemis points out, half-jokingly.

"Surprisingly, no, there isn't." Apollo sighs. "They were one of the teams I considered, but even if Dalos didn't refuse to work with them, they already have a group... somehow." Apollo bites his nail hard, clipping part of it off with a loud snap, placing the group in a solid silence.

"I found one!" Dalos yells across the room, trying to get Jayce's attention but piquing Apollo's instead, snapping him out of his mood.

"Guess that's one problem sorted." He sighs with relief before turning away and walking towards where Dalos' voice came from. "I'll see you guys when we get back, good luck."

Everyone looks around, the feeling of awkwardness suddenly fading due to Apollo's sudden change of mood. Artemis begins to giggle slightly, spreading to Luci and Judy, Ruby and Yang joining in after a few seconds, breaking the ice much faster than Luci had planned in his head. He makes a mental note to thank Artemis and Apollo later.

"So, what is this mission you were looking at?" Weiss asks, looking it over quickly. "'Search and destroy a wurm nest under the supervision of Alazarin Dim.' Did they spell worm wrong?" She asks, turning to Judy, seeing as she made herself seem like an expert.

"No, that's right." Judy says. "Wurms are big, long grimm that hide under the deserts of Vacuo and make nests in the oasis areas."

"Really? I've never heard of those types of grimm." Weiss nods along, reading through the other missions on the board, pointing to one from Atlas. "Have you heard of this one? I heard they were native to cold areas." Weiss and Judy continue their conversation as Luci accepts the wurm nest destroying mission.

"Well..." Yang begins, getting everyone's attention. "They seem to be getting along... swimmingly."

A cold silence fills the air.

"Yang, was that a pun?" Blake asks as Yang scratches the back of her head mischievously.

"It was?!" Ruby says, only now noticing the gills on Judy's neck. "Ugh! Yang! I told you not to make any puns! They're embarrassing!" She complains, solidifying the relaxed atmosphere around them.

"At least it was a smarter pun than usual, right?" Blake replies casually with a shrug.

While Ruby is still complaining, one of the teachers comes to take them to the airship landing area and are boarded onto the airship. Thanks to the new rules in place, all of their bags had to be searched and anything non-essential had to be left at the academy. Judy complained when they took the metal she was planning to use for her next weapon, but got over it soon enough thanks to the atmosphere of the trip.

* * *

"Why couldn't we take the airship all the way there?" Weiss complains as they make their way across the desert by carriage, wiping sweat from her forehead. She had gotten a lot more talkative once her and Vak were separated, however most of what she said were complaints.

"At least you brought cool clothes..." Luci complains back at her, finally being able to fit his coat into his bag. "I forgot about the heat difference when I was packing."

"Trident doesn't have any landing areas." Judy answers Weiss' complaint like it's an actual question. "It's a fairly new town and doesn't have many people living there, so they haven't had time to build one; it's not like you can just land anywhere out here, wurms could destroy an airship in seconds without warning." She explains, looking back at the second carriage, most likely fearing that exact situation.

"What's Trident like?" Ruby asks. "The stories I've read make Vacuo sound dangerous, but it's really nice so far."

"I heard the same." Weiss adds. "Atlas is much more civilized than the other kingdoms, so Vacuo seemed like a warzone, but now that I'm actually here, it just looks empty."

"It's a pretty small town..." Judy answers, ignoring what Luci thought was some kind of roundabout insult. "The last time I was there... I think they were working on a garrison." She thinks for a bit before realizing she hadn't really answered the question. "They had the basics, food, water, basic dust electricity, I don't think they were connected to the network back then, but I'm not sure since I didn't have a scroll. Now that I think about it, I'm sure they have a combat school."

"They had a combat school before they had a garrison?" Weiss questions. "How does that work?"

"Well, you have to supply soldiers." Judy points out. "If you just teach people how to fight, then they will defend the town with their own weapons; it's a lot cheaper." She explains, realizing how bad that sounds once she says it out loud. "I mean, we got the basics ready before the school, it just made sense since the town was founded by a huntsman, you know?"

"We?" Luci asks, but doesn't get an answer.

"You can see Trident over the horizon now, if you want." The driver says. "Just look out for bugs, because we're not slowing down!" He laughs as the tires begin to roll along solid ground rather than sand. Judy immediately sticks her head out of the window, followed by Ruby and Luci before Weiss reluctantly joins in.

"Woah..." Ruby exclaims as they go over the hill.

"What happened...?" Judy mumbles to herself as her eyes lock on the crumbled wall surrounding the small, isolated settlement.


	35. Volume 2: Chapter 9: Trident

Chapter 9: Trident

"Finally..." Mumbles a dark-skinned man, leaning against the wall of an unrecognizable building. "I was starting to worry I'd be waiting here all day." He continues as team JAVL and team RWBY approach him.

"What happened here?" Judy asks forcefully, but the man waves a finger at her with a smug smile.

"Now, I believe it's customary to introduce yourself before asking questions, miss...?" He trails off, holding his hand to his ear over exaggeratedly.

Judy sighs. "Judy Apelsin, leader of team JAVL." She answers. "Please answer my question." Luci hasn't seen Judy this on edge before, not even when they were fighting the White Fang. He goes to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her but is quickly interrupted when the conversation continues.

"Grimm, of course." The man says bluntly, still not bothering to stand up straight. "I don't know the details, but from what the survivors said, someone came into town a few weeks ago and brought the grimm with them."

"Is there really a person who can do that?" Ruby asks in a whisper to the rest of the team, but the man answers anyway.

"Grimm are drawn to negative emotion. All you would have to do is stir up some drama and boom, grimm know your location." He explains.

Judy clenches her fists and steps forward, an angry grimace on her face. "How can you talk so casually about this!" She reaches to grab his collar, but he slides to the left, still leaning against the wall.

"Ah, used to live here, didn't you?" He says, lifting a scroll to his face. "The survivors talked about an orange haired faunus girl who used to live here, I'm guessing that's you?" Judy is confused at how he figured that out from what she said but suddenly realizes that the scroll in his hand isn't his. "Artemis Titana, Vak Skye and Luci Glas." He reads from the scroll.

"How did you open my scroll?" Judy asks, hesitant about trying to snatch it back from him now.

He smiles widely, putting up one hand while tossing the scroll back to her with the other. "Magic hands." He mocks, swiftly taking out his scroll and showing the name on the screen. "Alazarin Dim, magician, huntsman and your tour guide for the evening."

"Pickpocket and fraud would be more accurate." Weiss says in a huff, stepping to the front of the group. "I don't believe that someone who will so easily steal from others can become a huntsman, even in this lawless kingdom."

"Well then, for my next trick..." He announces with a swish of his hand. "Tada!" He says, presenting his huntsman ID for everyone to see. "Official huntsman Alazarin Dim, treasure hunter extraordinaire."

"You sure have a lot of titles." Luci says. "It makes it hard to believe anything you say."

Alazarin gives him a purposefully confused look. "When did I tell you to believe me? My only job is to find a place for you to stay for the night and make sure you don't get yourself killed, I do my job and I get paid, why else would I be in this dump?" He finally stands straight and begins walking further into Trident. "I've told you everything I know already. We're heading to the town hall, so you can interrogate them yourself if you want; fair warning, they're not too open with outsiders."

"I-" Ruby begins but is immediately cut off.

"We will be going to our rooms; we need to strategies for tomorrow." Weiss announces. "Take us there first." She orders, stepping forward before stopping as Alazarin stretches out his arm and stepping to the side of the building.

"Say no more, princess, we have arrived." He says, pointing to the building he was leaning against.

"This place!?" Weiss complains. "It's in ruins! How can you expect us to-!?"

"Every building here is in ruins. We can go to a different run-down building if you want, but this is the only one with multiple rooms and multiple beds, so you're only reducing your own comfort." He shrugs, turning to the rest of the group. "The rest of you are okay with this arrangement, right?" He waits for a response for a second before continuing. "Okay, so we'll stay here tonight, if you want to go somewhere else, it's a free kingdom, knock yourselves out." He turns away again and begins his walk into town, team JAVL following behind hesitantly as the rest of team RWBY try to calm Weiss down.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Luci whispers to Judy.

"Hey." Judy calls out to Alazarin, ignoring Luci's question. "That's the orphanage, right?" She asks, pointing to the building they were supposed to be staying in for the night. He looks back at her and waits for her to continue, knowing she doesn't need an answer. "Is... are the kids okay?"

Alazarin sighs heavily. "I think most of them were fine, not like I asked about it specifically but there are a lot of kids camping out in the town hall, I mean younger kids, not kids your age."

"I'm not a kid, I'm eighteen." Judy snaps back, more agitated that his answer is so vague than the insinuation itself.

"Wow, could've fooled me." He says, leaning closer to look at her face, making everyone very uncomfortable. "I thought Vale had introduced a new junior combat division." He jokes.

"Hey!" Vak cuts in, stepping towards Alazarin forcefully. "You can't insult our leader! Apologize!"

"Insult? I was just making an observation." He says with a shrug.

"Just take us to the survivors." Judy sighs, waving him off.

"Of course, that's not part of my job though, so I'll be expecting extra pay." He announces, swiftly swinging around, seemingly satisfied with himself.

"Can we really trust this guy?" Artemis asks, clearly annoyed.

"He was hired by the Academy, so he must be trustworthy on some level." Judy says. "Either way, we should just put up with him for now, once we finish the mission, we should have some time to explore on our own." She begins to follow the man and waves for them to follow.

* * *

As the door swings open, everyone in the Trident town hall fall silent, glaring at the group who just entered. The people who entered make their way to the desk in the middle of the room silently, not wanting to give anyone a reason to do anything.

"What can I help you with?" The person sat at the desk asks, not bothering to introduce himself. He looks them over and sighs, standing up from his seat. "More refugees from The Pit, huh?" He waves to the two men stood at the door, presumably his guards. "Escort them out, please."

"W-wait." The woman of the group says, getting the guards to hold off for a moment. "Please, we just need some water to make it to Vacuo, we'll give you anything you want, please!" She says, but the mayor shakes his head.

"We have nothing to give you. You animals tried to tear down our town in our early days, but expect us to offer our limited supplies to you now?" He waves them off but the woman resists.

"Y-you can't do this! We had nothing to do with-" She begins, but the man with her grabs her shoulder.

"It's fine, we'll find another town on the way." He tells her, looking past her and seeing the guards with weapons ready. "Can you point us to the next town?"

"The next town is at least a day's walk away; I would suggest returning to your pit, but I won't stop you if you want to die." The mayor informs them, signaling the guards to back off since they said they were leaving anyway.

"Have you not heard?" The man asks, getting the mayor's attention again. "The Pit fell to the grimm yesterday, there's nothing left to return to."

The mayor pauses for a moment before scoffing. "They take half our people and then get them all killed? It's clear that your faunus pit was a failed experiment." He mocks, turning to speak to them properly. "Since you have given us this information, I am willing to offer you a day's worth of water for everyone in your party." One of the people working on some documents across the room tries to speak up but is quickly hushed. "This information is useful, and they gave it willingly, I think that merits some reward, don't you?" He addresses the person directly, who turns back to their work in shame. "How many are in your group?"

The man and woman look to each other in pleasant surprise before they both bow. "Thank you." The woman says. "There are only three of us, we were the last to make it out before it collapsed."

"Three?" The mayor questions before seeing the small arms wrapped around the man's neck. "Oh, of course." He realizes before pointing to the guard. "You; take them to the water storage and fill up a few canisters for them." The guard nods and walks ahead of them, opening the door and waiting for them to follow. The mayor watches as the man turns around, seeing the young child on the man's back for the first time. The first thing that becomes apparent to him is that the child is in no condition to make the journey to Vacuo. "Wait a second." The mayor calls out, causing the couple to turn back to him. "Your child... she is injured?" He asks, although the answer is obvious.

"Oh... yes." The man says, turning to let the woman see the child, making it even clearer than before to the mayor that the child, although they aren't bleeding, are mission a leg. "She got hurt while we were evacuating."

"While you were evacuating?" The mayor questions, walking forward to get a closer look at the wound. "You said that you evacuated yesterday, but this wound looks like it's already healing." He looks up at the child's face and notices that they are awake, although they aren't saying anything and just keep staring into his face. The mayor sighs and stands back up again. "The house at the end of the road is being used as a temporary shelter at the moment, you can stay there as long as you are willing to work." He announces, going and sitting back down at his desk.

"N-no, we can't, you've done enough already." The woman says.

"Your choice. The offer's open so take it or leave it. Take them to the water storage and then show them to the shelter, they can make up their minds then." He finishes before the guard takes the trio out of the town hall.

* * *

The town hall's door flies open violently as Alazarin walks in, all eyes shifting to him as team JAVL follow behind him distantly. Although the desk is the same as she remembers, it has been moved to the back of the room to make more space for the survivors, although there still clearly isn't enough.

"Hey, old timer, got the huntsmen in training you ordered." Alazarin announces loudly to the feeble looking man at the back of the room.

The man looks up but doesn't move. "That took longer than expected, huntsman. I hope you realize that this extermination has gone beyond a simple training mission, we need a proper huntsman team, not some kids playing heroes." He says, not moving from his spot on the floor.

"And like I told you, I'm not getting paid to fix your problems." Alazarin argues. "Look, they wanted to talk to you about what exactly you want them to do; you can handle it from here, I'm going to take a nap." He says, leaving the town hall as quickly as he entered.

After a small, tense pause, the man speaks up. "So, you're the Beacon kids?" He says, looking them over. He stops on Judy, although he doesn't clearly react. Judy takes center stage for a brief moment and tries to speak up, but quickly steps back again, almost hiding behind the rest of the group. "I wasn't expecting you to return so quickly, Gills." He says, staying sat down but turning to some of the other people at the back of the room, all of them seeming to organize around the survivors but stopping to see what's going on. "I see Vale has treated you well."

"Y-yes... it has..." She mumbles out, near inaudibly.

Luci sees that she doesn't want to be in this situation and takes over for her, knowing that he'll have to ask her about it later. "Cutting to the chase, what happened here?" Luci asks the man. "I assume you're in charge?"

The man holds out his hand, indicating to the survivors around them. "You can see what happened." He says, telling Luci that this conversation is going nowhere and to get straight to the point.

"Fine, at least tell us what exactly we're supposed to be doing." He demands.

"The Pit." Once the man says this, the air in the room seems to become more tense, the center of it being Judy, who begins to breath heavily. "It's just north of here; the grimm are coming from there; wipe out the nest and our problem is solved. As you can see, we're not in any condition to supply anything other than food and water for the night, so you will have to walk, it isn't a far walk however, less than an hour." He tells them. "If you want to hear more about what happened to our town, we'll talk after you've helped us."

"Umm..." Judy speaks up shakily, to which the man raises his head. "Are... are the orphans okay? We saw the orphanage and-"

"Of course." He replies, cutting her off. "Your parent's work hasn't gone to waste."

"That's not-" She begins to retort, stopping herself with a relieved sigh. "Thank you." She finishes, a lot of weight lifted from her shoulders.

The team leave soon after and the town hall goes back to the new business as usual. "Are you sure it was okay to tell her that?" One of the busy men asks the mayor. "She will find out once she comes back."

"If I told her now, what would that do for anyone?" He replies, looking over to the area the orphans had set up their little circle in the room. "Let her be positive for a moment; we need positivity at times like these."

* * *

 _Sorry I haven't updated in a little while, been busy. Volume 6 may be over and may have been a bit of a disappointment, in my opinion, but I'm not giving up on this series. This volume is where some of the big changes are going to become more present, so I'm really excited to see how you like the developments from now on. All feedback is appreciated._


	36. Volume 2: Chapter 10: Missing Pieces 1

Chapter 10: Missing Pieces 1

Judy opens the door to the rundown orphanage slowly, almost like she's sneaking in, but the quiet is quickly interrupted by the building's other guest.

"I'm saying it because it's true!" A voice, who Luci assumes is Weiss, yells mid argument.

"Stop yelling, this is pointless." Blake tries to reason. "We're already here, plus it's not that bad of a base."

Artemis and Luci peek in through the ajar door to see three of the girls already unpacking their equipment, while Weiss is still complaining. "You can't seriously trust that guy, what if he's working with Torchwick or the White Fang or-"

"Stop." Blake interrupts, holding a small stack of books that she was unpacking. "We don't need to worry about them coming after us, especially when we're nowhere near Vale. I don't trust him, but we don't need to start getting paranoid."

"I'm just being careful." Weiss finishes, leaving an awkward silence to seep into the room.

"I trust him." Ruby slices through the awkwardness like she didn't know it was there. "He reminds me of Uncle Qrow a little bit, plus he's a huntsman, so I trust him." Weiss and Blake don't have time to respond before Yang joins in.

"Yeah, I know what you mean…" She says, plopping herself down onto one of the beds. "He's… rugged-"

"Yeah." Ruby agrees quickly. "And a loner! He seems kinda reckless as well."

"And a drinker, and a he takes stupid risks."

"And he's kind of childish and playful and reckless."

"You already said reckless." Yang says, pointing to Ruby in a single dramatic motion. Upon realizing her mistake, Ruby grasps her chest and collapses onto the bed behind her, finishing the scene they created before sitting up and giggling along with her sister.

Weiss sighs heavily, quite a bit more relaxed. "None of these sound like reliable traits." She pointed out. "And that just sounds like you're describing yourselves, except the 'drinker' part obviously." Ruby gets embarrassed and Yang strikes a pose to show off her muscles. "Don't take that as a compliment." Weiss sighs again, completely liquidating the tense atmosphere the room had a moment ago.

"You know, it sounds more like they're describing you…" Artemis whispers in Luci's ear, breaking the silence they had while observing their new teammates.

"Shh! They'll hear you." Luci whispers back.

"It's rude to peep on girls, you know." They both hear someone whisper behind them, making them jump and fall into the room. Luci turns around and readies his dagger only to see that it's Alazarin. He laughs at them both as they lie on the floor. "Good reaction! I was expecting it from her but I thought you would be more composed at least." He mocks Luci as the pair of eavesdroppers slowly stand up.

"Were you… spying on us?" Blake asks genuinely. Weiss had grabbed her rapier when they fell into the room, and she still looked ready to use it after finding out it was them.

"No, no, no! We just heard you talking and didn't want to interrupt, right Arte-" He begins before seeing that she still had her bow drawn, without an arrow, aimed at Alazarin. "Put that away, you're making this look worse!"

"Hey." Judy says from outside the room, her voice is quiet but the tone grabs everyone's attention. "Alazarin, leave us alone for a bit." She demands, but he gives in easily.

"I only came out because I heard a commotion." He explains before turning towards the door across the hallway. "I'll be drinking in my room, try not to bother me too much." He waves and leaves in one clumsy motion.

Judy grabs Vak's arm and pulls him into the room, shutting the door behind them. Weiss goes to speak against them, probably to point out that they have their own room and to leave, but she's stopped by what Judy says. "What do you know about Torchwick and the White Fang."

* * *

Blake watches the docks as more airships arrive, flooding the area with more faunus dressed in White Fang uniforms.

"Well, I guess that settles it." The monkey faunus next to her says, pushing himself up from his prone position, ready to leave before they're seen. His name is Sun Wukong, a student from Shade Academy, here for the tournament. The two faunus had only met today but he seems to be warming to Blake quickly, she however is still on edge, watching every move he makes.

"Where are you going?" She asks, pulling him back down. "We have to make sure; they could be... another group trying to frame the White Fang..." Blake continues, unsure of herself. She knew why she wanted to stay, but she couldn't admit it to herself, let alone this possible spy.

Sun looks confused, as Blake expected. "Frame them for who? We're the only ones here and they don't even-" He begins before another airship flies over, cutting him off. Someone walks out as the airship is landing, seemingly in a hurry. Blake's face wears a grim scowl as she reaches for her weapons. "You know him?"

"Not personally..." She grunts out, calming herself down enough to talk. "Roman Torchwick, you heard the name?"

Sun almost jumps back in surprise. "That Roman Torchwick?!" He blurts out and is quickly shushed by Blake. "Sorry... but I didn't think he was real..."

This time, it's Blake's turn to be confused. "What do you mean 'real'? He's been terrorizing Vale for years."

"Vale?" Sun scratches his head. "Maybe it's not the same one... but I guess it would be a weird coincidence..." He says, thinking for a moment before continuing. "There's a rumor about Roman Torchwick in Vacuo for a few years now. Someone by that name has been raiding caravans transporting dust to Vale, it's basically broken any dust trade between Vale and Vacuo. That's all fact, the rumors come from how he does it." He keeps talking, not taking his eyes off Roman. "Even traders with a bit of dust end up getting raided, no matter how well they hide it or what route they take. People started wandering how he does it, which lead to a few theories. One is that he's networked with someone high up in Vacuo or Vale, another is that one of the other kingdoms is setting it up to ruin trade between the two allied kingdoms, but my favorite is that he or someone with him has a semblance to detect dust." He finishes, almost excited by the idea, before Blake sighs and goes back to watching what's going on.

"Well, this just adds more to the idea that they're fakes..." She says as she scans around, stopping when her eyes land on something strange. One of the people in the last airship is someone she recognizes, making her certain of who these people are. Roman begins to shout at the White Fang members before the masked man seems to reach down from the airship and grabs the back of his collar and lift him off the ground, dropping him again after a quick discussion. "They're definitely White Fang..." Blake finally admits.

"Good, so we can-" Sun begins as Blake draws her weapons and jumps down from their perch, running at full speed towards the airships. "Seriously!" Sun complains but quickly grabs his own weapon of choice and chases after her.

Blake stealths her way across the dock, using the shadows and shipping containers as cover to reach her target; the White Fang member with the full-face mask spots her and goes to warn the others but it's too late. Blake reaches around, grabbing hold of Torchwick's cane arm with one hand and putting her blade to his neck with the other.

"Everyone, step back!" Blake yells, slowly pulling her blade closer until the White Fang lieutenant she recognizes nods to them, making them comply. She quickly releases Torchwick's cane hand to undo the bow on her head, revealing the cat-like ears she hides from the rest of the world. "Why are you doing this?! Ciena wouldn't support working with someone like him!" She asks, but no-one answers, even the lieutenant looks away for a moment before turning back. "Why-"

"Would you mind letting me go?" Torchwick asks calmly, lifting his free hand to light a cigar, but Blake slaps it out of his hand with the handle of her blade, making him drop the lighter. "Was that really necessary?" He sighs before looking to the White Fang members. "Hey lowlifes! Aren't you going to answer her? It's rude to leave a lady's question unanswered." He mocks as the faunus' look down, their masks barely hiding their shame.

"Shut up." Blake demands before looking around the group. "Now, everyone get down on the ground and drop your weapons." She continues, but none of them move. "Why aren't you-!"

"You know, I feel like you don't get it." Torchwick says, tilting his head back slightly so she can see his face. "We're business partners, not friends, so they don't care about me." He raises his hand again but Blake smacks it back down. "The moment I get out of your grip, everyone will continue working and then we'll be out of here. But since I'm done working..." He says, raising his hand again quickly. As Blake hits his hand again, he flips his cane back slightly and fires, causing an explosion that launches her back slightly while only getting ash on the back of his clothes. "I can spare some time to play." Torchwick looks to the lieutenant and gives him a signal, causing him to tell the rest of the faunus to get back to work loading the crates.

Blake flies across the dock, readying to land midair and stopping as soon as she hits the ground, gripping her blades, ready for an attack. She looks up and sees Torchwick stood waiting before suddenly raising his cane to point the end at her and firing, shooting a glowing projectile at her that she had never seen before. She dodges out of the way and the bolt hits the crate behind her, exploding a hole in the side of it before two more explosions go off at her feet, giving her just enough time to dodge by using her semblance, leaving a shadow Blake to take the hit.

As Blake falls, another three projectiles fly towards her, leaving her with no way do dodge them all. She aims as best she can with her pistol and fires, causing two of the bolts to explode mid-air, but the third hits her directly, launching her back into a metal crate and sending her through it. She stands up slowly as her aura fizzles red before disappearing.

Torchwick sees the red glow disappear and gives a smug smile, not hesitating to aim a final attack at the hole in the container. As he pulls the trigger, something hits him from behind, knocking his cane upwards, shooting a ball of light into the sky as Blake runs out of the container and ducks behind another.

Torchwick swings his cane backwards in retaliation, but Sun leans back, the cane just scratching his nose as he kicks Roman's leg out from under him, tripping him over before jumping back, making some distance and flicking back his hair.

"This isn't an open party, get off the dancefloor!" Torchwick yells, aiming his cane at the new opponent before the bolt that had been fired up explodes like a firework, lighting the area for a moment and giving him a clear view of Sun. He is standing in a strange stance, almost like he's trying not to look like he's ready to run, but his tail is moving even more strangely, moving back and forth, suddenly making distinct shapes. Torchwick sighs as the docks start to go dark again, flipping his cane under his arm, pointing it backwards. "Kids these days make this too easy." He says as he fires his weapon blindly behind him, exploding the ground just in front of Blake as she sprints towards him, forcing her to jump as he readies another shot.

"Stop!" Sun yells as he dashes at Torchwick, swinging his staff at his head, but Torchwick easily blocks it with his hand.

"The monkey talks." Roman sarcastically laughs, dropping his cane down to hold the tip against Sun's head. "How about we stop that." He grins, pulling the trigger.


	37. Volume 2: Chapter 11: Copper and Jade

Chapter 11: Copper and Jade

Jayce makes his way into the clearing, pushing some branches out of the way as he goes, listening to the quiet chatter of the people behind him.

"... But she's so weird..." Dalos whispers, gaining a tired sigh from his companions. "All I'm saying is, she isn't carrying a weapon, she doesn't look like she can fight at all and she's really hard to talk to, even with all that, she's the leader of the team?"

Eyuno shakes her head before responding. "Do I look like I can fight?" She asks seriously, to which Dalos goes to respond but stops once he sees the look in her eyes. "She's not even that weird compared to the ginger girl with her." She continues, looking back to watch the other team who are supposed to be keeping up with them, being held up by the orange-haired girl trying to talk to her team about how greener the forests in Vale are compared to Atlas.

Their leader keeps walking quietly, looking at her pocket watch with a frustrated look, while the scrawny looking boy waddled along behind them, not focusing at all on where he's going and instead keeping an eye on the rest of the group. The final member of their team is a guy who looks way too big to be a student, towering over even the fairly tall Jayce and shaming the other guys with a tight shirt that clearly shows his eight-pack; anyone who saw him might say he's bragging, but anyone who spoke to him will say that he definitely is, as it's the first thing he brought up to team JADE. The orange haired girl continues to bounce around in front of her team, walking backwards for most of the journey but somehow not tripping once.

"Can you two stop staring?" Apollo says, not even trying to lower his voice as he tells off Dalos and Eyuno. "You're making us look rude." He turns back to the other team with an apologetic bow. "Sorry about them, just tell us if they start to bug you."

"I will." Their leader responds without hesitations, catching Apollo off guard without even looking away from her pocket watch.

A moment passes without anyone saying anything, just following Jayce through the woods, before someone speaks up. "So, what was your team name again?" Dalos asks, having not listened to most of the conversation they had before leaving the school.

"Ooh, can I introduce us?!" The orange haired girl asks excitedly. The team leader looks at her pocket watch again and nods, but the big guy gives an enthusiastic thumbs up. She starts off with a clearly forced clearing of her throat. "Sal-u-tations! Let me introduce team CCPR (Copper)! In order, our manager is miss Ciel Soleil, our tactician is master Cyrus Yaoland, our enforcer is Reese S Cup and I, Penny Polendina, am the support. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She greets, the rest of the team continuing to walk ahead of her.

"Why didn't you call me master?" Reese asks while Penny speeds up to catch up to them.

"Because I am supposed to be older than you?" She says like it should be obvious. Cyrus looks back at her and his eyes widen, Penny notices and looks confused. "What is wrong, master Cyrus? There should not be any enemies for at least another mile."

He quickly turns around, shaking his head. "Nothing." He blurts out, lowing his head slightly, but it was obvious that something was wrong.

"Don't pick on him, Reese." Ciel says, finally putting away her pocket watch. "And Penny's right, she's supposed to be older than you; show her some more respect."

Reese looks like he has been hit with whiplash. "I didn't even do anything!" Dalos laughs, turning back slightly and going invisible, a vague plan to have some fun in mind, but he can't even move before he feels someone grab his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"Don't make this more complicated than it already is." Eyuno whispers, gripping his arm harder until he deactivates his semblance. As soon as he reappears, Penny is right in front of his face, staring into his eyes.

"You can turn transparent?!" She exclaims excitedly, making Dalos feel really awkward as she looks him over. "Your clothes went transparent as well... so I'm guessing that anything you are making physical contact with becomes part of your semblance as well." She thinks for a moment, leaving time for her team to catch up to her after her sudden boost in speed. "Can you touch the ground?"

Dalos leans back, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, I've already tried that; it just makes the specs of dirt I'm touching invisible, not all of Remnant."

"Oh... that is a shame." She says but goes back to analyzing him without a pause. "How do you see?" She asks, which gets Jayce's attention. "People eyes see because light reflects off things and goes into them and if you are transparent then light is moving through you without hitting you, correct? Is your vision stopped when you are transparent? Is it true transparency or are you just distorting light, like the opposite of hard-light?" She continues on rapid-fire, not taking a breath between sentences.

"Please, stop." Eyuno interrupts as Penny opens her mouth again. "The word 'transparent' is starting to lose meaning."

"At least she's faster on the uptake than Luci." Jayce points out. "He still doesn't know you can't see when you use your semblance, and you two fought."

Penny tilts her head slightly, almost too purposefully. "You fought a monster named Lucy?" She asks. "How did it tell you its name?"

"Oh, sorry, Luci is another student at Beacon." Jayce explains, but this just seems to confuse her more.

"Did he do something to upset you? Like call you names, for example. People at Atlas are always calling each other names, but violence is not the answer." She lectures, to which Reese groans.

Dalos puts his hands up, her eyes accusing him more than her words. "No, no, it was a duel. All above board, I promise."

"Duel?" Penny repeats. "I did not know they had duels at Beacon, does that mean Ruby does dueling as well?"

It was Jayce's turn to be confused. "Ruby? This is a long shot, but do you mean Ruby Rose?"

Penny claps her hands happily, still keeping pace with all of them. "So, you do know her! I saw master Apollo talking to them in the morning, but I missed my chance to talk."

"How do you know her?" Cyrus asks casually, but his face tells Jayce this is a more serious question than he's letting on.

"She ran into me in town!" Penny replies plainly. "We both fell down... but now she is my first friend!"

"First friend, huh?" Reese sights dejectedly.

"We told you not to leave the academy." Cyrus says with a grimace, causing Penny to cover her mouth with her hands.

"But I've seen-" Dalos begins to speak up, but is quickly cut off by Apollo shushing him, holding his hand out behind him to the rest of the group.

"Beowolves, two in view, small pack formation, moving south towards Emerald Forest." Penny says as soon as she sees them in the small clearing. Everyone in team JADE looks at her in surprise, while Reese gets ready to fight immediately, taking a flask that he had strapped to his waist, flicking it downward as it extends into a straight edge sword.

Ciel places her hand on top of the weapon, forcing him to lower it. "We don't have time for this. Wait for them to move on."

"You can't be serious!" Reese argues. "People might get hurt if we-"

"If we don't get to the village by nightfall, we've already failed our job." Ciel says, narrowing her eyes. "I'm our manager. Stay put and be quiet, there should be huntsman at the academy prepared for this sort of thing, this isn't our fight."

As the two finish talking, one of the grimm suddenly wails before collapsing and disappearing, Dalos appearing right in front of it. "Phew, I'm glad he didn't try to run off straight away." The other beowolf howls before charging at him, getting hit in the side of the head by an arrow, not collapsing until a bullet-shaped object strikes it in the same place, exploding on impact and blowing half its body, along with its head, into bits.

Team CCPR look back and see Apollo and Jayce lowering their weapons with satisfied smiles. "The rest of them will be here in a bit, we better get ready." Jayce says, looking around. "Dalos and Apollo, find hiding spots in the trees, I'll lure them into the clearing. Eyuno-"

"I've already set up a few traps." Eyuno replies, placing a piece of paper marked with her family crest on the ground before it slides away into the forest.

"What are you doing!?" Ciel yells, all of them stopping immediately. "Were you listening! I just said that we need to get to the village by nightfall! If we don't, they won't have any defense against the grimm! What is wrong with you people!" She continues, stopping herself to breath. "Even if you wanted to take them out, you should have told me; we would have been able to time our attacks and kill them both before they had a chance to warn the others! We need to leave before more of them get here!"

"But that was the point." Dalos says, resting his invisible weapon on the back of his head while leaning his hands hang over it. "There're a few hamlets on the way to the Emerald Forest, they would have probably attacked them on their walk."

"I don't care!" Ciel objects. "We have one job! Everything else is a waste of time!" Dalos looks surprised that she would say that, but his shock quickly turns to anger; luckily, Eyuno is there to stop him from doing anything he would regret.

"I get what you're trying to say." Eyuno nods, putting out her arm to stop Dalos as he tries to approach her. "But you better apologize... right now." She speaks clearly despite how much effort it takes not to react the same way Dalos is. "You can continue on to the village if you want, but if you don't say sorry, then I can't work with you."

Penny steps up, getting between Ciel and the rest of the group. "Do not fight!" She demands, although her voice doesn't sound any less cheerful than before. "Miss Ciel does not mean any offence, she is a good and kind person-"

"Penny." Ciel interrupts, calmed down after being lectured so clearly. "It's a waste of time to fight right now; what's done is done." She reluctantly accepts. "But we will discuss this when we have time." She demands and no-one refuses. "Cyrus, suggested course of action."

Cyrus is taken aback for a second but quickly gets his bearings. "We're not in the middle of the pack yet, so the rest of them will be coming from one direction, and since we haven't seen any more, the main pack should be to the west, so..." He trails off as he thinks. "Position Defense Four: RPCC?"

He doesn't sound completely sure, but Ciel starts barking orders immediately, getting everyone into position. Reese stands center stage with Penny and Ciel diagonally behind him on either side, Cyrus staying in the clearing but staying as far away from the action as possible.

"Army tactics?" Eyuno observes as she finishes laying her traps, half the clearing now covered in paper.

Apollo looks over from his sniper spot in the trees. "I heard Atlas trained a lot more for army combat than team combat, but I didn't think such small teams would have formations."

"Grimm located." Penny says, snapping them back to the topic at hand. "Over one hundred meters away. Eighty meters, fifty me- twen-" She continues, interrupting herself as the threat moves too quickly for her to keep up with. "They're here!" She announces as a beowolf leaps out of the forest.

The grimm flies past them in a blur, striking at the people that pass by it with its claws. Reese tries to block the attack with his sword, but he moves too slowly and the claw strikes his arm instead, knocking him back into Penny, his aura fizzling from the impact.

On seeing this first strike, Penny spins around and grabs the beowolf's leg, swinging it down and smashing it into the ground before kicking down on its back, ripping it's leg clean off. "Do not hurt my teammates." She warns the already disintegrating grimm as more enemies blur past them, avoiding getting too close. She turns back around to the group as they ready for another wave. "Second wave arriving from the east." She points out, turning around as she tracks their movements. "I am combat ready."

* * *

 _I'm glad to be getting to this story line at last, it's been one of the arc that I've had planned from the very beginning and I'm so happy that I didn't rush it and do it too early._

 _I would like to thank Red X and Team 🔥C🗡A🎩R🍦N🔫J💚E🔥 on the RWBY Amino for letting me use his original characters, Reese S Cup_ _and Cyrus Yaoland_ _, I wasn't sure how well it would work out since I've never worked with other people in the_ _community, but I think it turned out pretty well._

 _Thank you to all my new followers and I hope you will stick with me as the story of Scarred continues._


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